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Nia Griffith

Dame Nia Rhiannon Griffith DBE (born 4 December 1956) is a Welsh politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Llanelli since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, she has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities since 2024.[1]

Early life and career

Griffith was born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, on 4 December 1956.[2]

She was educated at Newland High School for Girls (now called Newland School for Girls) in Hull and Somerville College, Oxford where she graduated with a first class degree in modern languages in 1979.[3]

Griffith was a founder member of a local Women's Aid organisation and is a member of the National Union of Teachers and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers.[4][5]

Parliamentary career

She was selected to contest the Welsh seat of Llanelli for Labour at the 2005 General Election following the imposition of an all-women shortlist after the retirement of Denzil Davies.[6] She won the seat with a majority of 7,234 votes and remains the MP there. Griffith made her maiden speech on 19 May 2005.[7]

Griffith was re-elected in 2010 with her majority reduced by 2,533 votes.[8] In October 2010, she became Shadow Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills[9] until October 2011 when she became Shadow Minister for Wales. On 13 September 2015 she became Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.[10] She resigned from this position on 27 June 2016 following a series of other resignations from Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet,[11] but was appointed Shadow Defence Secretary four months later. She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.[12]

Griffith is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.[13]

Griffith held her seat at the 2019 general election.[14] She was appointed by Keir Starmer to serve as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales on 6 April 2020. On 29 November 2021 she was replaced by Jo Stevens in a shadow cabinet reshuffle. She announced her new role of Shadow Minister of State for International Trade on 4 December 2021.[15]

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for political and public service.[16][17]

In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed Shadow Minister in the Cabinet Office.[18]

Griffith held her seat at the 2024 general election with 12,751 votes (31.3%); this was a decreased majority of 1,405 compared to the 2019 election.[19] On 9 July 2024, she was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Wales Office.[20]

Expenses

In June 2009, Griffith was named as one of the Welsh MPs whose expenses had been overpaid. Following a review of expenses Sir Thomas Legg ordered Griffith to repay £4,099.77 in mortgage interest claims.[21]

In June 2010, Griffith had to repay the cost of sending 71 letters having been found to have breached Parliamentary rules on using House of Commons stationery for political purposes. The Department of Resources ruled that the letters, sent out just before the general election, "sought to communicate information about the Labour Party and that its intention was to persuade constituents to vote accordingly for the sitting party member". Griffith also apologised for her actions.[22]

Personal life

Griffith is divorced, her former husband was a social worker.[3][23] In a photo shoot for The Independent in February 2016, Griffith came out as a lesbian, commenting that her sexuality had been known among friends, family and colleagues since the mid-1990s.[24] She was named on the 2017 Pink List of leading Welsh LGBT figures.[25]

Griffith owns a house in Llanelli, a flat in London,[26] and a smallholding in Carmarthenshire which received Tir Gofal funding.[27] Her hobbies include music, European cinema, gardening, walking and cycling.[2][28] She is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.[29]

Publication

References

  1. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: 8 October 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b "WPR – Nia Griffith MP". Parliamentaryrecord.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  3. ^ a b Passmore, Valerie (2005). Dod's Parliamentary Companion: Guide to the General Election, 2005. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. ISBN 9780905702575. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Nia Griffith MP – Labour Member of Parliament for Llanelli". Niagriffith.org.uk. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  5. ^ "WPR – Nia Griffith MP". Parliamentaryrecord.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  6. ^ "UK Election 2005: Wales, Gwynfor tribute as MP returned". BBC News. 6 May 2005. Archived from the original on 26 May 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  7. ^ Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (19 May 2005). "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 May 2005 (pt 15)". Publications.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Swansea: The latest news, sport, what's on and business from Swansea and Gower". Thisissouthwales.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Wales MPs named as shadow junior ministers". BBC News. 11 October 2010. Archived from the original on 28 May 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Nia Griffith MP - UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. 20 July 2015. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  11. ^ Syal, Rajeev; Perraudin, Frances (27 June 2016). "Shadow cabinet resignations: who has gone and who is staying". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  12. ^ "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  13. ^ "LFI Supporters in Parliament". Labour Friends of Israel. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  14. ^ "Llanelli parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Archived from the original on 1 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  15. ^ "Tweet announcing new role". Twitter. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  16. ^ "No. 63714". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 2022. p. B9.
  17. ^ "Welsh MP who has been made a dame calls for 'urgency' in tackling climate change". The National Wales. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  18. ^ "Meet our Shadow Cabinet". The Labour Party. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  19. ^ "Llanelli - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  20. ^ "Dame Nia Griffith DBE MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  21. ^ "27 Welsh MPs must repay expenses". BBC News. 4 February 2010. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  22. ^ "MP says sorry for breaching political rules". This Is South Wales. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  23. ^ "Swansea: The latest news, sport, what's on and business from Swansea and Gower". Thisissouthwales.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  24. ^ Mark Leftly (20 February 2016). "Gay MPs: The photograph that shows Westminster's attitude towards LGBT politicians is changing". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Pinc List 2017". Wales Online. 19 August 2017. Archived from the original on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  26. ^ "MPs' expenses: Full list of MPs investigated by the". Telegraph. 8 May 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  27. ^ "TheyWorkForYou". TheyWorkForYou. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  28. ^ Dod's Parliamentary Companion. Dod's Parliamentary Companion Limited. 2010. ISBN 9780905702896. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  29. ^ "Honorary Associates". www.secularism.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.

External links

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