The Lord Touhig | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2022 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans | |
| In office 11 May 2005 – 5 May 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Ivor Caplin |
| Succeeded by | Tom Watson |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs | |
| In office 12 June 2003 – 10 May 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales | |
| In office 11 June 2001 – 10 May 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | David Hanson |
| Succeeded by | Nick Ainger |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Assumed office 30 June 2010 Life Peerage | |
| Member of Parliament forIslwyn | |
| In office 16 February 1995 – 12 April 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Neil Kinnock |
| Succeeded by | Chris Evans |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1947-12-05)5 December 1947 (age 77) Abersychan,Monmouthshire, Wales |
| Political party | Labour and Co-operative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
James Donnelly Touhig, Baron TouhigPCKSS (born 5 December 1947), known asDon Touhig, is a British politician andlife peer who served asMember of Parliament (MP) forIslwyn from 1995 to 2010.[1] A member of theLabour and Co-operative parties, he served in government as an AssistantWhip from 1999 to 2001 and aParliamentary Under-Secretary of State from 2001 to 2006.
He went to St Francis RC School inAbersychan nearPontypool, then the Mid Gwent College (nowColeg Gwent) in Pontypool. Before entering parliament, he had been a journalist from 1968 to 1976. From 1976 to 1990, he was the Editor of theFree Press of Monmouthshire (Monmouth Free Press). From 1988 to 1992, he was the general manager and Editor-in-Chief of the Free Press Group of newspapers. He was the general manager (business development) of the Bailey Group from 1992 to 1993, then of Bailey Print from 1993 to 1995. He served onGwent County Council from 1973 to 1995. He joined theTGWU in 1962 and the Labour Party in 1966.
Touhig contested theRichmond and Barnes constituency at the1992 general election, but reached third-place behind theConservative andLiberal Democrat candidates. Following the resignation ofNeil Kinnock, formerLeader of the Opposition andLeader of the Labour Party, he was elected to succeed him as MP forIslwyn at theby-election on 16 February 1995.
From 1996 to 1997, Touhig was a Member of theWelsh Affairs Select Committee. He served asParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) toGordon Brown, thenChancellor of the Exchequer, from May 1997 to July 1999. He had to resign as PPS in 1999, when he confessed to receiving a leaked Social SecuritySelect Committee report onChild benefit.[2] He was later suspended for three days from the Commons.[3]
He was appointed to serve as an AssistantWhip from November 1999 to June 2001. He was a junior minister at theMinistry of Defence, with special responsibility for veterans, but left government in the May 2006 reshuffle.[4] He was made aMember of the Privy Council on 19 July 2006.
InPaul Flynn's 1999 bookDragons and Poodles, he was described as being the "seamstress-in-chief of stitch ups", that he could be "ambitious" and "can be pompous".[5]
On 29 January 2010, Touhig announced that he would stand down at the2010 General Election.[6]
On 28 June 2010, Touhig was made alife peer in theHouse of Lords asBaron Touhig, ofIslwyn andGlansychan in theCounty of Gwent.[7]
He was appointed to the opposition front bench as aWhip and Shadow Spokesperson forDefence in September 2015, serving as a Whip until September 2016 and a Defence Spokesperson until October 2017. He returned to the defence brief from April 2020 to May 2021.
Touhig was married on 21 September 1968 to Jennifer Hughes. She died in 2014 from cancer, aged 67.[8] They have two sons and two daughters.
He is apapal knight of theOrder of Saint Sylvester (KSS).
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forIslwyn 1995–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Touhig | Followed by |
