Don Touhig

The Lord Touhig
The Right Honourable; The Lord Touhig; PC KSS
	Touhig in 2018
Shadow Spokesperson for Defence
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 15 April 2020
Leader	Keir Starmer
Shadow Sec.	John Healey
	In office; 18 September 2015 – 17 October 2017
Leader	Jeremy Corbyn
Shadow Sec.	Maria Eagle ; Emily Thornberry ; Clive Lewis ; Nia Griffith
Opposition Whip in the House of Lords
	In office; 18 September 2015 – 1 September 2016
Leader	Jeremy Corbyn
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Veterans
	In office; 11 May 2005 – 5 May 2006
Preceded by	Ivor Caplin
Succeeded by	Tom Watson
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Parliamentary Private Secretary ; to the Chancellor of the Exchequer
	In office; 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1999
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Chancellor	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Peter Butler
Succeeded by	John Healey
Member of the House of Lords ; Lord Temporal
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 30 June 2010 ; Life Peerage
Member of Parliament ; for Islwyn
	In office; 16 February 1995 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by	Neil Kinnock
Succeeded by	Chris Evans
Personal details
Born	5 December 1947; Abersychan, Monmouthshire, Wales
Nationality	Welsh
Political party	Labour and Co-operative
Spouse(s)	Jennifer Hughes (1968-2014)
Children	4
Website	http://www.dontouhig.org.uk/

James Donnelly Touhig, Baron Touhig,[1] PC KSS (born 5 December 1947), known as Don Touhig, is a British Labour Co-operative politician from Wales. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Islwyn from a 1995 by-election until his retirement in 2010, after which he was appointed as a life peer in the House of Lords.

Early life

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

House of Commons

Tuhig contested the Richmond and Barnes seat in the 1992 general election, coming third for Labour behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. He was subsequently elected to Parliament in a by-election on 16 February 1995, to replace Neil Kinnock (party leader from 1983 to 1992), 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.[2] He was later suspended for three days from the Commons.[3] 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.[4] He was made a Member of the Privy Council on 19 July 2006.

In Paul Flynn's 1999 book Dragons 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 the 2010 General Election.[6]

House of Lords

On 28 June 2010, Touhig was made a life peer as Baron Touhig, of Islwyn and Glansychan in the County of Gwent.[7]

Personal life

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.

Honours

He is a papal knight of the Order of Saint Sylvester (KSS).

gollark: But that would destroy the planned obsolescence the coloring book industry relies on. Hmmm.

gollark: Also physical books with erasable pages so you can reuse them.

gollark: Oh, audiobooks would be an interesting idea too, good point.

gollark: Business idea; convert coloring books to ebooks for more convenient use.

gollark: And has implementations.

References

"Introduction: Lord Touhig: 30 Jun 2010: House of Lords debates". TheyWorkForYou.
"Chancellor's aide quits over leak". BBC News Online. 27 July 1999.
"MPs suspended over leak". BBC News Online. 21 October 1999.
"Blair saga 'bleeds party' says MP". BBC News Online. 31 August 2006.
"Dragons and Poodles – a story of Welsh politics". BBC News Online. 15 September 1999.
"Labour Don Touhig, MP for Islwyn, is to stand down". BBC News Online. 30 January 2010.
"No. 59476". The London Gazette. 1 July 2010. p. 12452.
"Tributes paid to wife of former Islwyn MP". South Wales Argus.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Neil Kinnock	Member of Parliament for Islwyn 1995–2010	Succeeded by Chris Evans
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by The Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale	Gentlemen Baron Touhig	Followed by The Lord Davies of Stamford

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[1] "Introduction: Lord Touhig: 30 Jun 2010: House of Lords debates". TheyWorkForYou.

[2] "Chancellor's aide quits over leak". BBC News Online. 27 July 1999.

[3] "MPs suspended over leak". BBC News Online. 21 October 1999.

[4] "Blair saga 'bleeds party' says MP". BBC News Online. 31 August 2006.

[5] "Dragons and Poodles – a story of Welsh politics". BBC News Online. 15 September 1999.

[6] "Labour Don Touhig, MP for Islwyn, is to stand down". BBC News Online. 30 January 2010.

[7] "No. 59476". The London Gazette. 1 July 2010. p. 12452.

[8] "Tributes paid to wife of former Islwyn MP". South Wales Argus.