Kinnock, the future leader of the Labour Party, called himself a "unionist". His stated view was that "between the mid-sixteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century Wales had practically no history at all, and even before that it was the history of rural brigands who have been ennobled by being called princes". He was one of six south Wales Labour MPs who opposed their own Government's plans, along with Leo Abse (Pontypool), Donald Anderson (Swansea East), Ioan Evans (Aberdare), Fred Evans (Caerphilly), and Ifor Davies (Gower).