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Nigel Griffiths (born 20 May 1955) is a British Labour Party politician, and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South from 1987 to 2010.

Early life

Nigel Griffiths was educated at Hawick High School in the Scottish Borders before attending the University of Edinburgh where he was awarded an MA in 1977. He finished his education at the now Moray House School of Education in Edinburgh in 1978. He was president of the University of Edinburgh Labour Group in 1976, where he first met and supported Gordon Brown, who had recently served as the student-elected Rector of the University.

In 1978, he worked as a secretary to the Lothian Development Council, before becoming a welfare rights worker with a pressure group working on behalf of people with learning disabilities in 1979. He remained in this position until his election to Parliament.

He worked with Anita Roddick to establish The Big Issue in Scotland and set up the Wester Hailes Citizens Advice Bureau. He is a member of Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth, and The Ramblers.

Political career

Griffiths joined the Labour Party in 1970 and was elected as a councillor on the City of Edinburgh Council in 1980, a position in which he remained until he became a member of the House of Commons. He also served as a member of the Edinburgh Health Council (1982–87). He was a member of the Edinburgh International Festival committee for three years from 1984 and was the chairman of the city council in 1986.

Griffiths was elected to parliament at the 1987 general election for Edinburgh South, when he ousted the sitting Conservative MP Michael Ancram by 1,859 votes and remained in the position until the 2010 general election. Griffiths tabled more than 1,000 questions to Conservative ministers in his first four months. He was made an Opposition Whip by Neil Kinnock in 1987, becoming a spokesman for eight years for the Department of Trade and Industry in 1989.

When Labour was elected in the 1997 general election, he became the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry, with responsibility for competition and consumer affairs. He was sacked by Tony Blair in his first reshuffle of 1998 after arguments with civil servants in the department. He spent the rest of the parliament as a member of both the procedure and the public accounts select committees. He returned to government following the 2001 general election with the same rank at the Department of Trade and Industry, this time with responsibility for small business.

In 2002 the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards upheld complaints that Griffiths owned an office for which he was claiming expenses for rent of £10,000 a year.

Between 2005 and 2007, Griffiths served as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, deputising for both Geoff Hoon and then Jack Straw. He resigned over the renewal of the British Trident system in March 2007.

In 2006, Nigel Griffiths has commented on the debate over veils stating "The justification I have heard is that some Muslim women feel 'comfortable' wearing the full veil, but it doesn't make others comfortable."

In March 2009, The News of the World alleged that Griffiths had an extramarital affair in his House of Commons office. He later admitted to this and apologised. He subsequently launched a legal action against the newspaper for invading his privacy and obtaining the material that supported the allegations "in an extremely underhand way".

In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported Griffiths had attempted to claim £3,600 for a television, DVD and digital radio to watch and listen to Scottish broadcasts. The claim was rejected by the Fees Office.

On 31 January 2010, Griffiths announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election, and said that he would be taking up a job with an "international educational institution".

In late 2015 Griffiths became Scottish Co-ordinator of the Labour Leave campaign. In January 2016 he "stole a march on his old ally Gordon Brown, unveiling an anti-EU poster as the former PM was preparing to launch the party’s Scottish campaign for staying in." In the same month Griffiths helped to set up the cross-party Grassroots Out group.

Notes

1. Competition and Consumer Affairs from 1997 to 1998.

References

1. ^ "Profile: Nigel Griffiths". The Guardian. 12 March 2007. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
2. Brown's first taste of power BBC News 15 July 2005
3. ^ "Profile: Nigel Griffiths". BBC News. 12 March 2007. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
4. "Complaints against MP upheld". BBC News. 13 February 2002. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
5. "Privy Council Office Resource Accounts 2005–06" (PDF). gov.uk.
6. Minister quits over Trident plans, BBC News, 12 March 2007
7. Griffiths backs Straw in row over veils, Edinburgh Evening News, 9 October 2006
8. Swinford, Steven (28 April 2011). "Woman in Commons sex session with MP hides behind injunction". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
9. Did Murdoch’s tabloids go too far?, Financial Express, 14 July 2009
10. The Death of Kiss and Tell, Panorama, 15 June 2009
11. Gammell, Caroline (28 May 2009). "MPs' expenses: Nigel Griffiths's £3,600 claim for help listening to 'Scottish TV and radio'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
12. "Sex scandal MP set to stand down at election". The Scotsman. 1 February 2010.
13. ^ "Nigel Griffiths in EU exit stunt ahead of Gordon Brown speech". The Scotsman.
14. "GO Movement to apply to be official EU exit campaign". itv.com. 16 February 2016.

Publications

• Guide to Council Housing in Edinburgh by Nigel Griffiths, 1981
• Welfare Rights Survey by Nigel Griffiths, 1981
• Welfare Rights Guide by Nigel Griffiths, 1982
• Council Housing on the Point of Collapse by Nigel Griffiths, 1982
• Welfare Rights Guide by Nigel Griffiths, 1983
• Welfare Rights Guide by Nigel Griffiths, 1984
• Welfare Rights Guide by Nigel Griffiths, 1985
• Welfare Rights Guide by Nigel Griffiths, 1986
• Rights Guide for Mentally Handicapped People by Nigel Griffiths, 1988

External links

• Official Website
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Nigel Griffiths
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Nigel Griffiths MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Nigel Griffiths MP
• Profile in 2007
• BBC Politics Profile Archived 22 May 2009 at archive.today
• Telegraph Sleaze Inquiry
• The Scotsman Sex Scandal

• 1955 births
• Living people
• Scottish Labour MPs
• Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies
• UK MPs 1987–1992
• UK MPs 1992–1997
• UK MPs 1997–2001
• UK MPs 2001–2005
• Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
• Politicians from Glasgow
• People from Hawick
• UK MPs 2005–2010
• Councillors in Edinburgh
• Scottish Labour councillors
• People educated at Hawick High School
• British Eurosceptics