A centrist Blairite, he defeated the soft left MP Rhodri Morgan in a leadership contest in 1999 and was elected leader.

In February 2000, they used their joint numbers to pass a motion of no confidence in Michael as first secretary, which would mandate his resignation under the standing orders of the assembly.

Michael resigned as both first secretary and Labour leader and Rhodri Morgan was elected unopposed at a meeting of the party's Welsh executive and assembly group to succeed him.

[16] The opposition parties in the assembly pressed ahead with the no confidence motion in February 2000, after Michael said the funding would not be forthcoming until the government's spending review in July 2000.

[16] In private, around 18 of the 28 Labour assembly members (AMs) indicated their preference for Morgan to lead the party and serve as first secretary over Michael.

Michael lost the motion on 9 February after the opposition parties joined their numbers to outvote Labour and make it pass.

[17] It was suggested that Michael could stand again for the leadership to regain the premiership, an option he had considered in advance of the motion of no confidence, but it was expected that he would lose to Morgan if he chose to do so; his decision to resign without consulting the Labour group made the more neutral members of the group swing to Morgan's camp and support him for the leadership.

[28] Former Labour prime minister James Callaghan supported the notion of Morgan as first secretary but also called on Blair to bring Michael back into the British cabinet.

[29] At the meeting of the WEC and Labour group on 11 February, which was held in Cardiff, Morgan was the only person nominated for the leadership.

[32][27] In his victory speech, Morgan pledged to rebuild his party's relationship with its supporters in its traditional strongholds, adding that he would "not be Blair's puppet".

He formed his new administration later in the month, making limited changes to the cabinet pending potential agreements with other parties later in the year.