User:Dontouhig
Early life
[edit]He went to St Francis RC School in Abersychan near Pontypool, then the Mid Gwent College (now Coleg Gwent) in Pontypool. Before entering parliament, he had been a journalist from 1968-76. From 1976-90, he was the Editor of the Free Press of Monmouthshire (Monmouth Free Press). From 1988-92, 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 1992-3, then of Bailey Print from 1993-5. He served on Gwent County Council from 1973-95. He joined the TGWU in 1962 and the Labour Party in 1966.
Parliamentary career
[edit]He contested the Richmond and Barnes seat in the 1992 general election. He was elected to Parliament in a by-election on February 16 1995, to replace Neil Kinnock, who had resigned. From 1996-7, he was on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. He served as parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown and as a whip before becoming a minister. He had to resign in 1999 when he confessed to receiving a leaked Social Security Select Committee report on Child benefit, being suspended from the Commons. [1] He was succeeded by John Healey. He was a junior minister at the Ministry of Defence, with special responsibility for veterans, but left government in the May 2006 reshuffle. He was made a Member of the Privy Council on 19 July 2006.
Personal life
[edit]Touhig is a papal knight of the Order of Saint Sylvester. He was married on September 21st, 1968 to Jennifer Hughes. He has two sons and two daughters.
External links
[edit]- Don Touhig official site
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Don Touhig MP
- Voting record at the Public Whip
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Don Touhig MP
- BBC Politics page
- Blake's Parliamentary Yearbook
- ^ MPs suspended over leak BBC News Thursday, October 21, 1999