Gwyn Morgan: Labour politician who might have prevented the SDP breakaway

It is one of the "ifs" of British political history.

If Gwyn Morgan, the bookies' odds-on favourite to be General Secretary of the Labour Party in 1972 on the retirement of Sir Harry Nicholas, had been selected by the party's National Executive Committee, British political history would have been different. As a personal friend of Morgan's successful rival Ron Hayward (Independent obituary, March 1996), a committed anti-Marketeer and an MP in the thick of Labour's factional internal politics in those years, I am convinced that had the combatively pro-European Morgan become General Secretary a situation would never have developed whereby Ray Jenkins, Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams and David Owen left the Party to form the SDP. Disappointed and seeing little future for himself in the Labour Party, Morgan devoted himself to the service of the European Community.

By 1976, when those of us in the first Labour delegation to the European Assembly, led by the former Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart, arrived indirectly elected from the House of Commons, Morgan had established himself as one of the most effective operators in the Berlaymont, earning the respect not only of the Labour British Commissioner George Thomson, later Lord Thomson of Monifieth (Independent obituary, October 2008), but also of the Conservative heavyweight Sir Christopher Soames, EEC Foreign Affairs Commissioner.

In Brussels, Morgan was a mover and shaker, and was at the epicentre of creating the European Development Fund. Caroline Thomson, Chief Operating Officer at the BBC, and her mother Grace, Lady Thomson, told me of George Thomson's high regard for Morgan's courage in the face of bitter Party criticism during the months leading up to the vote on British entry into the Common Market in October 1971, and of Morgan's wide circle of friends in Brussels – friendships which helped the British cause.

John Gwynfryn Morgan was born the son of a coal-miner, and proud of it – proud, too, of the Welsh choral tradition, a side of him that was illuminated by his contributions to Welsh Night at Blackpool, Brighton, or wherever else there was a Labour Party Conference. After a scholarship to Aberdare Boys Grammar School, he did a degree in Classics at University College, Aberystwyth. He was ever combative – there was something about the brave Hector about him in his dealings with colleagues.

Morgan was catapulted to national prominence when he became President of the National Union of Students in 1960 at a time of incipient student grievance. Firebrand he might have been, but he earned the respect of the discerning Professor Lionel Robbins of the LSE, who was the Chairman of the Committee which set up the Universities of Essex, Sussex, Warwick, Lancaster, and Stirling. Morgan believed that any young woman or young man – he emphasised the order in which he put it – who would benefit from higher education was entitled to a chance.

As NUS President Morgan caught the eye of David Ennals, who had been elected MP for Dover and recommended him to the Party as his successor as International Secretary. Seeing Morgan in action at the reception for international guests at the annual Labour Conference, I was struck by the way he used his Welsh charm to make socialists from many counties feel welcome: he could jolly people along. His main task was to work with George Brown in preparing Labour's application to join the Community in the late 1960s. It was at this time he became an ardent European.

He served the community after this period in the pivotal position of Chef de Cabinet; in his native Wales, in Canada with unqualified success; in Turkey, where he had furious rows over Cyprus; and in south-east Asia, retiring from his last job leaving a legacy of success.

John Gwynfryn Morgan, politician and diplomat: born 16 February 1934; President, NUS 1960-1962; Head of Labour Party Overseas Department 1965-69; Assistant General Secretary, Labour Party 1969-72; Chief de Cabinet of George Thomson, European Commissioner 1973-75; Head of Welsh Information Office, EEC 1975-79; Head of EEC Press and Information Office for Canada 1979–83; Honorary Consultant in Canada, EEC 1981-83; EEC Representative in Turkey 1983–86; Head, Delegation of EEC to Israel, West Bank and Gaza 1987–92; Ambassador-Head of Delegation of EC to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia 1993–95; Head, South-East Asia, Directorate-General of External Relations, EC 1995–99; Head, European Union Election Observation Team, Ivory Coast 2000; married three times (two sons, two daughters); OBE 1994; died 21 April 2010.