Leighton Andrews - Professional Career

Professional Career

• Parliamentary Officer Age Concern, 1982–84
• UK Campaign Director, UN International Year of Shelter for the Homeless, 1984–87
• Public Affairs Consultant 1988-1993 and 1997–2001
• Head of Public Affairs for the BBC from 1993–96, based in London, responsible for the BBC's relations with the UK Parliament and with the EU institutions. Lecturer at Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies immediately prior to his election to the National Assembly.

He is a published academic, whose peer-reviewed articles and chapters include The National Assembly for Wales and broadcasting policy, 1999-2003 Media, Culture & Society, Vol. 28, No. 2, 191-210 (2006); Wales and the UK’s Communications Legislation 2002–2003, Cyfrwng 2005, and Spin: from tactic to tabloid, Journal of Public Affairs, Volume 6, Issue 1, Date: February 2006, Pages: 31-45 and the chapter 'Lobbying for a new BBC Charter' in The Handbook of Public Affairs edited by Phil Harris and Craig Fleischer, Sage, 2006.

Chapters in other books include 'New Labour, New England', in The Blair Agenda, Ed. Mark Perryman, Lawrence and Wishart, 1996, 'Too important to leave to the Politicians' in The Road to the National Assembly for Wales, ed J.Barry Jones and Denis Balsom, 'The Breakdown of Tom Nairn', in Gordon Brown: Bard of Britishness, edited by John Osmond, IWA, 2006, and the Labour chapter in Welsh Politics Come of Age: Responses to the Richard Commission (Paperback) edited by John Osmond, IWA, 2004,