Adam Price: Five years as Plaid Cymru leader but steps down after decades in politics

Adam Price has been in charge of Plaid Cymru since 2018 but his history with the party goes back a long way, both as a campaigner and an elected member. 

In 2021 he told ITV Wales that his background was what motivated him to go into politics.

He said: "I was born in a council house and there was a time after the miners’ strike when we were struggling. My mother really worked hard to keep us going and to make sure that I could continue in sixth form and go on to university.

“And that's something I feel very emotional about. I got that chance. And I look at Wales today and I don't think that I would have had that chance in the same way necessarily today. And that's the thing that gets me up in the morning and keeps me awake at night.”

He became an MP in 2001 and made a mark during his time in parliament particularly when, as a fervent opponent of the Iraq War, he tried to impeach the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. It led to him being ejected from the commons chamber.

During a speech he said: “There's compelling evidence that the Prime Minister misled this house in taking us to war” causing the then Speaker, Michael Martin, to order him to leave the chamber.

He also won cross party support when he took up a cause closer to home. He championed the workers of Allied Steel and Wire, who faced losing their pensions when the company went bust.

However, in 2010 Adam Price stepped down as an MP, quit politics altogether and entered academia, going to the United States where he won a scholarship to Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. 

But in 2016 he was back in the political world, this time swapping Westminster for Cardiff Bay. 

Two years later, he challenged Leanne Wood for the leadership of Plaid Cymru and won. 

In a 2021 interview he told me that the decision to challenge was “Desperately difficult. Leanne is one of my oldest friends in politics, and we know each other from way, way back. I mean, we go back over 30 years.”

When I asked him if their friendship had survived he said, “Yes, it has. I felt at the time that we as a party needed to change direction ourselves, otherwise, we were going to be stuck as a nation on the same path.”

However later that year, Leanne Wood said their friendship had not survived the turmoil. 

In December 2021, Adam Price and Mark Drakeford signed an agreement to work together. 

They both believed the Cooperation Agreement would benefit Wales and their parties.

For Labour, with half the seats but still short of a majority, it meant avoiding defeat on budget votes, confidence votes and, it hopes, on areas it sees as crucial to its programme of government. 

For Plaid Cymru it was seen as avoiding the risk which going into a coalition government can create for smaller parties and allowed it to act as an opposition party in areas which it doesn’t agree with Labour. 

Adam Price hailed the agreement as "representing a new kind of politics” but it was criticised by the Conservatives who said it was a “stitch-up” and accused Adam Price of propping up Labour. 

Plaid Cymru was able to claim credit for some major areas of policy change, particularly the ongoing plan to extend free school meals to all primary school children which will see a further roll-out this autumn. 

It has also led to other policies such as expanding free childcare to the parents of all two-year olds and steps to tackle second homes, some of them controversial. 

It also brought plans for radical change to the Senedd much closer. Under proposals agreed by the two parties, the number of MSs will increase from 60 to 96 while the way those members are elected is set to change too with multi-member regions introduced along with gender quotas.

In a statement posted late on Wednesday evening, Mr Price said he is stepping down as party leader.

It follows a recent report which revealed women were let down by the party when it failed to implement a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment.

He will remain as leader until an interim replacement is ratified on Saturday, with nominations for the position open from this morning.