:John Griffiths (Welsh politician)

{{Short description|Welsh Labour politician and Member of the Senedd for Newport East}}

{{about|the Welsh Labour politician and Member of the Senedd for Newport East||John Griffiths (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = John Griffiths

| honorific-suffix = MS

| image = John Griffiths AM (27889494760).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Griffiths in 2016

| office = Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development

| firstminister = Carwyn Jones

| term_start = 13 May 2011

| term_end = 14 March 2013

| predecessor = Jane Davidson

| successor = Carl Sargeant{{Ref label|aaa|a}}

| office1 = Counsel General for Wales

| firstminister1 = Carwyn Jones

| term_start1 = 9 December 2009

| term_end1 = 13 May 2011

| predecessor1 = Carwyn Jones

| successor1 = Theodore Huckle

| office2 = Member of the Senedd
for Newport East

| assembly2 = Welsh

| majority2 = 3,584 (15.5%)

| term_start2 = 6 May 1999

| term_end2 =

| predecessor2 = Office established

| successor2 =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|12|19|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales

| death_date =

| death_place =

| restingplace =

| birthname =

| nationality =

| party = Labour and Co-operative

| otherparty =

| spouse =

| relations =

| children =

| residence =

| alma_mater = University of Wales

| occupation =

| profession = Politician
Barrister

| cabinet =

| committees =

| portfolio =

| religion =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| website =

| footnotes = a. {{note|aaa}}As Minister for Natural Resources.

}}

John Griffiths (born 19 December 1956) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who previously served as Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development from 2011 to 2013. Griffiths has represented the constituency of Newport East in the Senedd since 1999.

Education

Griffiths studied law as a mature student at the University of Wales.

Professional career

Before his election to the Senedd, he was a practising solicitor (criminal law, personal injury and general civil litigation).

Political career

He is a former councillor on Gwent County Council and Newport CBC. He is a member of Labour's National Policy Forum, the Co-operative Party, Workers' Educational Association and Full Employment Forum. He is a committed republican, and a member of the ISTC trade union. Griffiths has been a Member of the Senedd for Newport East since 1999. His political interests include economic development, social inclusion, education and Europe.

In the Senedd he was appointed Deputy Minister for Health and Social Care (Older People) from May 2003 until May 2007. In the Third Assembly was appointed Deputy Minister for Education, Culture and the Welsh Language (31 May 2007) and retained that position when the coalition government of Plaid Cymru and Labour was announced on 19 July. John supported Carwyn Jones in the Welsh Labour leadership contest in 2009, and went on to support Mark Drakeford in 2018. He was appointed Counsel General and Leader of the Legislative Programme in the Welsh Assembly in December 2009, a job previously done by First Minister Carwyn Jones.{{cite web|title=Welsh Assembly Government:John Griffiths AM|url=http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetm/johngriffiths?lang=en|access-date=16 May 2010|publisher=Welsh Assembly Government|year=2010|work=Welsh Assembly Government website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330105216/http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetm/johngriffiths?lang=en|archive-date=30 March 2012|df=dmy-all}}