I, and my family, as many have done today, extend our deepest condolences to Julie and all her family in what is a difficult time, but I hope some of the tributes today have been of great solace to her and her family. Former First Minister Rhodri Morgan appeared in person to give evidence to our committee only two weeks ago, for the inquiry ‘A stronger voice for Wales’, and he demonstrated, as always, his enduring commitment to devolution, but also his passion and his intellect, and his warmth and his wit and his wisdom, built on years of experience serving the people of Wales.

But, in my brief remarks today, I want to recall fond personal memories of Rhodri: the warm and engaging Rhodri who people loved because they sensed it was genuinely reciprocated. When I was a Labour branch secretary many, many years ago, it was Rhodri who turned up on a sun-kissed May Day rally on the streets of Ystalyfera, holding up the traffic for 20 minutes outside Nesta’s newsagents, then striding down the streets with a band playing and the miners’ lodge banners flying, and then Rhodri speaking from the back of my father-in-law’s flatbed truck to crowds on the rugby field, and then, as always, being mobbed by people who all just wanted to say ‘hi’ to their Rhodri—and it was in the day before selfies.

Being mobbed was an occupational hazard for Rhodri, as I discovered later as a Member of Parliament. My task in one Assembly election was to try and help chaperone Rhodri around Caerphilly town centre. We struggled to make headway, as everyone—simply everyone—wanted to talk politics or rugby or simply say ‘hello’, as if they had discovered a long-lost relative. And Rhodri loved talking too, knowing family connections of every other person and the intimate history of every street in every community.

And what other First Minister or senior statesman would risk all to attend a local charity fundraiser in Dylan’s in my hometown of Maesteg, at which a long-time friend of Rhodri’s was performing live on stage? During the act, Rhodri accepted an invitation to go up on stage to take part. It was quite an unusual act. So, we all watched with growing concern as Rhodri duly lay himself down on a bed of six-inch nails, and, for added relish, allowed the performer to walk across him. The headlines were writing themselves in my troubled mind.

Personally, and I know I won’t be alone in this, I will remember the selfless way in which he encouraged me and others to take up the mantle of public service and to stand for election. I can honestly say that I would not have done so without his gentle but persuasive persistence that this was a noble calling worth pursuing, and, importantly, he also persuaded my wife that I should. I’ve never regretted it, not least because I, and others, continue to look up to people like Rhodri as role models of lifelong public service in Westminster and here in Wales.

To scale the political heights as he did, yet to retain the common touch with such ease, shows the measure of the man and the friend we have lost. His legacy is great and enduring. Rhodri Morgan was a true servant of Wales and a true friend to everyone he knew.