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.

2, 191–210 (2006);[6] Wales and the UK’s Communications Legislation 2002–2003, Cyfrwng 2005,[7] and Spin: from tactic to tabloid, Journal of Public Affairs, Volume 6, Issue 1, Date: February 2006, Pages: 31–45[8] and the chapter 'Lobbying for a new BBC Charter' in The Handbook of Public Affairs edited by Phil Harris and Craig Fleischer, Sage, 2006.

[9] Since his return to academia in 2016 he has continued to publish in academic journals such as Public Administration, the International Communications Gazette and Political Quarterly.

Mark Perryman, Lawrence and Wishart, 1996,[11] 'Too important to leave to the Politicians' in The Road to the National Assembly for Wales, ed J.Barry Jones and Denis Balsom,[12] 'The Breakdown of Tom Nairn', in Gordon Brown: Bard of Britishness, edited by John Osmond, IWA, 2006,[13] and the Labour chapter in Welsh Politics Come of Age: Responses to the Richard Commission edited by John Osmond, IWA, 2004,[14] He has written three books, Wales Says Yes (Seren, 1999), Ministering to Education (Parthian, 2014) and Facebook, the Media and Democracy (Routledge, 2019).

[17] In 2002 Andrews was selected to fight Rhondda for Labour, after the party's shock defeat to Plaid Cymru's Geraint Davies at the 1999 Assembly election.

Andrews was appointed to the Welsh Assembly Government on 31 May 2007, as a Deputy Minister for Social Justice and Public Service Delivery, with special responsibility for housing.

His speech in the Assembly on 27 June set out the broad thrust of the housing agenda which was to form the policy of the new coalition government.

Andrews was forced to resign as Minister in June 2013, when Carwyn Jones told him he had broken the Ministerial Code by campaigning against the closure of Pentre Primary School in his Rhondda constituency.

He set out his schools agenda in a speech in February 2011 which was intended as a response to Wales's poor showing in the 2009 PISA results.

Andrews was a strong proponent of the longstanding policy to merge universities in Wales to establish larger, more stable institutions.

[26] In November 2010, Andrews announced that, contrary to the policy of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition in Westminster, Welsh students would not have to pay £9000 tuition fees no matter where they studied.

In September 2012, Andrews ordered the remarking of several thousand GCSE English papers in Wales that had been affected by a very late change in the marking scheme.

[32] Andrews inherited from his predecessor, Lesley Griffiths, a Gender-based violence Bill, and took early steps to rename it to the name under which it was eventually passed into law in 2015.

As a result, Andrews was criticised by members of the Welsh Assembly, and resigned on 25 June 2013 after First Minister Carwyn Jones refused to support his position.

Immediately the GMB union announced a campaign to save the factory, backed by Andrews and local MP Chris Bryant.

[44][45][46][47] In her review of the year 2007, the Rhondda-born journalist Carolyn Hitt said:[48]Labour AM Leighton Andrews and MP Chris Bryant fought a passionate campaign to save 300 jobs at the Burberry clothing factory in their Rhondda constituency.

But even the added celebrity glitter of Dame Judi Dench, Ioan Gruffudd and Emma Thompson couldn’t persuade the grasping label to stay.