William is an active and effective member of the National Assembly First elected in 1999, William was re-elected as AM for South Wales East in 2003 and 2007.
Born in 1949, William is married with three children. He is the sixth generation principal of a family firm of surveyors in Newport established in 1844.
A fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, William is also a past Chairman of Newport Harbour Commission, and chairman of Rougemont School Trust, Newport.
William is also a member of numerous organisations, including the Listed Building Advisory Committee and the Rent Assessment Committee for Wales.
William has years of experience in local politics in Wales. He is the former leader of the Conservative group on Newport County Borough Council. He has served as the Conservative education spokesman, chief whip, business manager, chair of the Welsh Conservative group in the National Assembly, and as European affairs spokesman.
In his time in the Assembly, William has campaigned on a range on local and national issues affecting Wales.
In 2001 William called for an inquiry after revealing that a group of asylum seekers were handcuffed after being taken to hospital for TB tests. In 2002 he campaigned to save a mediaeval ship discovered on the banks of the River Usk in Newport.
Most recently he warned of a lack of government action to respond to new laws on the disposal of hazardous waste and called on ministers to do more to tackle substance misuse in Wales.