German formed his frontbench team of party spokespeople on 13 May 1998, on the
same day as
Rod Richards's Welsh Conservatives. On the formation of his frontbench team, German criticised Alun Michael's decision to appoint two education secretaries to his cabinet, stating that the division of responsibility for pre-16 and post-16 education policy between two different ministerial posts was "ridiculous", and that instead "we should be looking to provide education and training from cradle to work to retirement". In the months that followed Morgan's ascension to the premiership, German engaged in negotiations with him to form a
coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. After the coalition was approved by their respective parties, a new coalition government between the parties was formed on 16 October 2000, with German becoming the first
deputy first minister of Wales under Morgan, whose office was renamed to first minister. The Liberal Democrats left opposition and remained in government until May 2003, when Morgan ended the coalition after his party made gains in the
2003 National Assembly for Wales election. The Liberal Democrats returned to opposition with German forming a
second frontbench team as Morgan formed his
new cabinet in May. ==Members==