Roger Williams: The Person Behind The Face

We may have already met - I get out and about in the constituency whenever I can - but I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you a little more about who I am, what makes me tick and why I chose to become a Member of Parliament.

I was born in the beautiful countryside of the Usk Valley, in the town of Crickhowell, which now marks the most south-eastern point of the constituency. I have lived in the same farmhouse all my life, a sixteenth-century building which, according to local legends is haunted, but rather disappointingly, I haven't yet had any out of body experiences!

Although I can't honestly say that I have always wanted to be an MP, I remember from a very young age being acutely aware of social inequalities and it was these that eventually drove me into politics. One of my earliest memories is from the age of about eight, while I was driving down to Cardiff with my parents. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were passing through Merthyr Tydfil when I saw a couple of men sitting on a bench, looking tired and dirty. I asked my mother why they were sitting there and she explained that they were unemployed. I have never forgotten those men and thinking how unfair life could be, why some people seemed to have everything and others had virtually nothing.

I went to Llanfilo County Primary School, where my mother had taught before she got married. The school had, at best, a total of fifteen pupils, a factor that must have led to its closure in the 1960s.

At sixteen, I took my A levels (in chemistry, physics and biology) at the local public school, Christ College Brecon, and took another three (in zoology, botany and maths) a year later.

Gap years weren't really fashionable back then, but seventeen was considered too young to go to university so I spent three months working in Viscose Development chemical factory in Swansea and three months in the Plant Breeding Station in Aberystwyth, before going on to university.

I gained a place to study natural sciences at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where I spent a lot of my time (too much perhaps!) playing sport. I played cricket and rowed for my college but it was rugby that I loved above all. I played a number of times for the LX club, the University's second rugby team, and I was in the college team that won the League and the Cup Competition.

Although you might not be able to tell from my current athletic physique that sport ever formed part of my life, I do still bear the scars to prove it! Nowadays my involvement in sport is limited to being a spectator, but I do still enjoy watching a good game of rugby or cricket when time allows.

It was whilst at Cambridge that I met my wife Penny, who was a nurse at Addenbrooke's Hospital. I soon discovered that we had a lot in common, not least our mutual desire to help the communities around us, albeit in different ways. We married in 1973 and have two children, a son, Brychan and a daughter, Rhian. Brychan was married to Claire Louise Sandell in July 2007 and had a son Theo James who was born on 20th August 2008.

I graduated in 1969 and became a livestock farmer. Although I don't run the farm myself anymore, I am still responsible for a flock of six hundred ewes and sixty beef suckler cows. This helps me to keep an active interest and a practical understanding of animal production and welfare issues. This proved to be invaluable during the foot and mouth epidemic.

It was when I left university that I became more seriously involved in politics. I had already refused to go to South Africa as a schoolboy because of racial inequality at the time of apartheid and, after Cambridge, I campaigned vigorously against the re-introduction of capital punishment and against unilateral nuclear disarmament.

I became a member of the Labour party in 1969, but left to join the SDP in 1981, as soon as it was formed. By the late seventies, I had grown increasingly disillusioned with Labour, which in those days was too ideological to take into account the practicalities of modern living and was unable to adapt to the pace of change. Throughout the seventies I also developed a strong interest in education and this shaped many of the views I hold today.

I strongly believe that education is key to solving a lot of problems in our society, ranging from racism to drug abuse or crime, which more often than not stem from ignorance, poverty and unemployment. Educate people and you not only empower them to make informed choices during their lives, you also prevent a lot of social problems from happening in the first place.

The idea of being involved with schools first hand was very appealing and since the local education authority responsible for running primary, secondary, special and further education in my area at the time was part of Powys County Council, I decided to run for councillor. I became the first elected SDP councillor, a few months before the party was officially recognised in September 1981, and I remained a councillor (SDP from 1981 and then from 1988, Liberal Democrat) until my election as a Liberal Democrat MP in 2001.

Working on the farm throughout the years also did a lot to sharpen my interest in agricultural politics. During the mid 1980s I was elected Chairman of the Brecon and Radnorshire branch of the National Farmer's Union.

My experience in planning while I was at Powys County Council also brought me into contact with the Brecon Beacon National Park, which had planning responsibilities for large areas of Breconshire. After being a member of the Brecon Beacons for five years, I was elected Chairman in 1990. I really took to the nature of the work involved in running a national park: nature conservation with a political edge, two elements that are often very difficult to balance.

While I was Chairman of the Brecon Beacons, I also became involved with the Development Board for Rural Wales, a body responsible for social and economic development in Wales. This ultimately played a large part in shaping what I did when I became an MP, because it highlighted the way in which people in rural parts of the country were often sidelined by national government and treated as second-class citizens by big business. You may want to take a look at the local campaigns I've been running in the constituency to ensure that this doesn't happen!

From the mid-nineties I was involved in a succession of posts for the Training and Enterprise Council for Powys and Mid-Wales, and for the European Centre for Wales in Brussels which lobbied for EU support in Wales. My experience in dealing with the Brussels bureaucracy gave me a clear understanding of how essential international co-operation is in promoting environmental conservation, which is such an important factor for Wales and its wonderful countryside.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which has proved so disastrous for third world countries, has also been of limited importance to European farmers who, contrary to popular perception, still find it hard to make a living. The CAP Mid Term Review, which will switch the emphasis from encouraging agricultural production to maintaining the countryside, will be of immense importance to everyone.

My continuing commitment to education led me to become a school lay inspector during the late nineties, working mostly in Wales, where the inspection system is more supportive of the teaching profession than in England.

The experience of visiting so many schools and finding out first hand the difficulties in teaching, has given me a sound insight into the profession.

Although schools were never too happy when the inspector called, most of the inspections I carried out revealed very good teaching practice and generally ended on a happy note. As an MP today, I still really enjoy having children of all ages come to visit me in Westminster. It is so important to teach children at a young age the value of parliamentary democracy and the need to make your voice heard by voting in elections.

By the late 1990s, I realised that the only way I could make the experience I had accumulated over the years work for my community was to be directly involved in politics by becoming an MP.

I had met so many disaffected people and worked with so many disadvantaged sectors throughout my career that I yearned to be in a position where I really could make things change and help people to enjoy a better life.

I still think this is unquestionably the most meaningful part of my job. The fulfilment derived from helping homeless families, fighting for rural services or helping someone to secure justice, is one of the most rewarding feelings I have ever experienced.

So this is why I am in the House of Commons today: to try and make a difference to the lives of people living in Brecon and Radnorshire and beyond. I hope I have managed to share with you my level of commitment each day, in Westminster and the constituency, in working to make this happen.