We met David Meurig Thomas (Other lives, 24 September) after his retirement, when he joined the Labour party. He became a leading member of Welsh Labour Action, which campaigned in the mid-1990s for the party to strengthen its proposals for a Welsh Assembly by committing itself to proportional representation, gender balance and law-making and tax-raising powers – all of which aims were eventually achieved. On the night of 18 September 1997 he was part of the ecstatic gathering at the Park hotel in Cardiff as the Assembly “Yes” campaign snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
For several years, he was also an active participant in a successor group, Welsh Labour Grassroots, established in 2003-04. Many WLG members fondly remember his passion, eloquence and often irreverent wit.
