Mark Drakeford has been Wales' First Minister for five years. A reluctant First Minister, he has admitted his favourite
Job was when he was behind the scenes working for his friend and mentor Rhodri Morgan. Mr Drakeford will send his resignation to the King after taking his final set of questions in the Senedd chamber on Tuesday. This will start the formal Senedd process to replace him as First Minister. Mr Drakeford announced he would stand down in December and has been Wales' First Minister for five years. He has previously served as Wales' health minister and finance minister and has been a key figure in the story of devolution as one of the closest advisers to former First Minister Rhodri Morgan before becoming a frontline politician himself. READ MORE: Live updates as Mark Drakeford stands down as First Minister READ MORE:
Labour politicians meet to discuss concerns around Vaughan Gething He will remain as Senedd member for Cardiff West until the next Senedd
election, scheduled for May 2026.
BBC Radio Wales has run a series of interviews with people who know Mr Drakeford best to mark his last day, and is running a documentary tonight about his legacy, here's a selection of the best quotes from those who know Mark Drakeford best. Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies: 'He's a party political animal' "He's a very serious, thoughtful politician who brought a serious and thoughtfulness to the role of First Minister that was right for the time, the Covid pandemic. Mark will be indelibly associated with that. But also reflecting on Mark's longer career at the heart of devolution, he has been a senior partner in the devolution journey since 1999. In the first roles, playing a senior adviser role to Rhodri Morgan, for the tenure he was First Minister from a backbencher as a minister and then First Minister. There's the longevity of his time in the Senedd and he still has two years left to run. Mark Drakeford prepares for his final First Minister's Questions "He is above all a party animal, a party political animal and Labour runs through his veins. Through the premise and lens of things he looks at, he looks at it through the lens of the Labour Party and that comes down to the role he has played in Welsh politics as a councillor, as an adviser, as an MS and now First Minister over the last 20 or 30 years or so does identify him as one of the senior figures in modern Welsh political history. "The politics and policies that Mark has promoted in his time as First Minister that is something on the opposite side of the aisle to what I believe in. You have to say well done to any politician who has been successful at the ballot box and Mark has undoubtedly been very successful, as recently as 2021 by delivering the current Welsh Labour Government in the Bay." Former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price: 'Father of the nation' The former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price worked with Mr Drakeford not only on the recent co-operation agreement but also the One Wales agreement in 2007. "In the world of politics, often sadly characterised by its shallowness and superficiality, the man is defined by his depth, his depth of thinking, his rootedness in his own deep seated philosophical values. He's one of those rare people you encounter in life who has the ability to see big picture, but also have an eye for the fine brush strokes. He's never at his more happy than when he delving into the detail of a policy paper. First Minister Mark Drakeford and leader of Plaid Cymru Adam Price (Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency) "He's been so much part of the, I wouldn't even say furniture, but architecture of Welsh Government for the last 20 years as special adviser and rising to the position as First Minister. To call him a micro manager would do him a disservice, but he is across all the details. "He had the ability to see beyond party, and role to see the common ground. He's a natural co-operator. It doesn't mean he wasn't sometimes a hard person to negotiate with, he had a clear sense of what he was trying to achieve but always willing to see if common ground was possible." "Sometimes people bandy around this term 'father of the nation' and knowing Mark Drakeford as I do, he would recoil from that sort of grandiose language but at times of national crisis people look to a FIrst Minister who is the First Minister of all, and I think he embodied that." Former Lib Dem education minister Kirsty Williams: 'He's stubborn and he doesn't suffer fools gladly' The former Lib Dem Assembly Member was Mr Drakeford's education minister from 2016. In the Radio Wales documentary, she tells host James Williams that the pair share a love of books, and swap titles. She still "naughtily" has his copy of Thomas Mallon's Fellow Travelers, an author the First Minister is particularly fond of. She spoke "He can be stubborn, he does not suffer fools gladly, and he hates a lack of seriousness. He is very funny, he's got a great line in anecdotes. Mark Drakeford in his last cabinet meeting held on Monday, March 18 (Image: Welsh Government) "I hope he won't mind me telling what I thought was a very funny story about a visit with his family to Folly Farm in the summer and his job was to take a photograph of his family as they came round on the little train. So once they'd queued up and got on the train he found himself a spot by this hedge, getting ready to do the one job that he had, get the snap and try not draw attention to himself. But as the train approached him, the driver who is pointing out things of interest t o the passengers said: "And on the left is the FM and everyone waved and he said 'Kirsty the train was eight carriages long' and of course everybody was waving at him and he said he'd been trying so hard to keep a low profile but his cover was blown". Former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon: 'The finest of First Ministers' The former First Minister of
Scotland has given an interview to a BBC Radio Wales documentary about Mark Drakeford which will air tonight (March 19). "In some ways Mark is everything you would want to see in a modern politician, and I think managed to avoid some of the pitfalls of modern politics. You know, getting caught up in the the spiral of social media; of being too quick to rush to judgments and positions. "Mark was very calm, considered - somebody who thought very, very deeply. One of the things I admired most about him, he thinks very, very deeply about every issue he's dealing with and comes at it from all different angles. "I think Mark’s popularity was probably based on the fact he was Mark. I think he deserved his standing and the respect that he is held in because of how he did the job. Boris Johnson, of course, for any politician trying to do a serious job, take the responsibility seriously…
Boris Johnson is always going to be a stark contrast and he's always going to stand in juxtaposition to whatever you're trying to do. "So of course, there is an element to which Mark’s attributes and strengths would have been brought into even sharper focus because of what he was being compared to but I wouldn't want to in any way suggest that it was only Boris Johnson that made Mark look good by comparison. Mark Drakeford still is - and soon we'll be talking about him as a former First Minister - the finest of First Ministers. I think he's been [a] fine - very, very fine - First Minister. I think his legacy will be a strong one and I think Wales is going to miss him incredibly." Transport minister Lee Waters: 'All those things that were causes for concern were his superpower' Mr Waters, who has been in Mr Drakeford's cabinet, told BBC Radio Wales: "When he was elected, I had a role helping with strategic communications because it was something I had done on his campaign with him and there was worries within his advisers that he was worried about the front man role of being First Minister. he didn't want to go on visits very much, he was much more comfortable in his office, calling officials in, reading papers, getting to the guts of the policy. Llanelli MS Lee Waters with First Minister Mark Drakeford "That's where his sweet spot was and he wasn't really doing the connecting with the public bit. His profile was very low, there was polling done and his profile wasn't very encouraging. There was a growing sense of concern, politically, about what kind of Welsh Labour leader he was going to be. And then all of a sudden this crisis emerged and all those things that were causes for concern were his superpower." Former special adviser David Davies: 'He isn't leaving with any regrets' Former special adviser David Davies was part of Mr Drakeford's campaign team. "I think he is sanguine, he did what he wanted to do. This is not the end of his political contribution, he will now do something different. I feel he will believe it's the right time, we believe it is and it's come to a conclusion in the right time. I don't think he's leaving with any regrets. Mark Drakeford in 2018 (Image: Media Wales) "Mark's an unusual person, most of us, if we're very good at something, tend to enjoy doing them. Mark is very, very, good at many things he doesn't necessarily enjoy. He is very good at capable of being a front man, he's a talented communicator, he's a natural teacher and was actually able to step into the spotlight and be very effective but it doesn't mean it's his first preference or that he enjoys it. The weight of office didn't stand heavily on his shoulders, he's a very rational person, he managed to sleep at night even at the most difficult times of his administration, the way he worked I think, he could always think 'I've taken the right evidence, thought about the right things, and I've consulted with the right people, this is a reasonable decision and now I'll move on'." "He likes the fact he has reached young people, and he has enthused them." Carwyn Jones: 'He will be remembered for being pragmatic and sensible' "More than anything, he will remembered as the person who took a pragmatic and sensible approach to Covid. People will disagree with me, but I've been there, I know what it's like to be in a situation and needing to take a decision very quickly where you're bombarded with information from different directions and having to pick the best way forward based on the weight of the evidence and he did that for many, many, months and was the public face of that. Mark Drakeford celebrates with a cup of tea after becoming the new Welsh Labour leader (Image: Richard Swingler) "[His impact on Welsh devolution] was absolutely huge. He was there as Rhodri's special adviser, then got elected himself, joined government. One of the things I've always said about Mark is that I've sat around many tables with him whenever Mark said something it was something worth listening to, and I don't think that's changed. "Whether people agreed with him or not, he would make a point, produce evidence and be sensible in what he said. That advise and that presence will be missed". For the latest politics news in Wales sign up to our newsletter here. Welsh polling expert Jac Larner "In the last year we've seen his popularity drop considerably as had the proportion of people who think he's doing a good job." In the pandemic more than half of people said he was doing a good job, which was higher than other politicians. "If we fast forward to the last month or so, essentially 50% say he's doing a bad job in office." The switch has come from Conservative voters, he said. Mr Larner said he is "pretty popular" among Labour voters, and those who would vote Plaid Cymru. But he has "become incredibly unpopular and polarising" to Conservative voters. Mr Larner said the biggest drop was between May and September 2023, when there was a lot of conversations on 20mph. Welsh Secretary David TC Davies: 'I hold Labour to account for political failures' "I wish Mark Drakeford the best, I understand he's effectively retiring and I hope he enjoys his retirement in peace. There are various political tensions between us, I hold Labour to account for the health service, education in Wales, the failure to develop childcare." And how does he himself sum up his tenure? In a final interview, he told us: "I hope when people look back I hope they see it's a period where they see we did grapple with the challenging parts of the agenda and didn't resolve them in ways that were just easy at the time." You can read his full answer to that question - and others - here. Mark Drakeford – Legacy of a Leader? is presented by James Williams and will be on BBC Radio Wales from 6pm (Tuesday, March 19), or you can also listen back on BBC Sounds.