While a teenager, she became branch secretary of the Labour Party in Ely and later became active in student politics in the University of Hull where she studied European Studies, French and Spanish.
Her first job after university was as an intern in the Socialist Group of the European Parliament.
She then worked for S4C, Agenda TV and the BBC. In 1994, at 27, she was elected as the youngest Member of the European Parliament, representing Mid and West Wales becoming the fifth woman in the history of Wales to be elected, alongside Glenys Kinnock.
After Labour’s UK landslide victory in 1997, Eluned became a key figure in the Yes for Wales referendum campaign. After the narrow victory she was appointed as the Labour representative on the National Assembly Advisory Group and was instrumental in shaping the future of the institution. Eluned was a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 2009,
In 1996, Eluned married her husband Rhys Jenkins. Rhys Jenkins has recently retired, having served as a GP in Ely for almost 30 years and is now a priest in the church of Wales.
Eluned made history in becoming the first person in Wales to give birth while in full time public office and now has two grown up children.
She established and ran the Cymdeithas Cledwyn society in the Labour Party – a group committed to championing the Welsh language in the Labour Party and to organising events through the medium of Welsh. She chaired the organisation from its inception in 2001 until around 2021.
In 2009, she left the European Parliament and was appointed director of low carbon business development for SWALEC/SSE in Wales and also became the chair of the Cardiff Business Partnership.
Ed Miliband nominated Eluned for a peerage and in 2011 and she became Baroness Eluned Morgan of Ely. She served as a Whip and Shadow Minister for Wales and Foreign Affairs and she led for the Labour Party in the Lords on the EU Referendum Bill and two Wales Bills.
In 2016, Eluned was elected to the then Welsh Assembly as Labour’s regional member for Mid and West Wales. She was named ITV’s Politician of the Year in 2017.
In 2017, she became the Minister for the Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning.
After standing in the 2018 Welsh Labour leadership election, Eluned was invited to serve in Mark Drakeford’s Cabinet and was appointed Minister for International Relations.
She took a leading role in the pandemic in Wales focusing on the impact on tourism, hospitality, sports, and culture and in October 2020, she was appointed Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
She was appointed Minister for Health and Social Care in 2021.
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