Donald Anderson was re-elected as chair of the foreign affairs select committee after the general election, despite efforts by the government Whips to remove him from the committee. A huge backbench revolt against the removal of Mr Anderson and Gwyneth Dunwoody, transport select committee chair, led to the first defeat of the government in the Commons since Labour came to power in 1997.
The Labour leadership was accused of "control freakery," and the revolt seen as a victory for freedom of expression. The government has promised reform of the way MPs scrutinise its work in the wake of the revolt.
Since becoming chairman of the foreign affairs select committee in 1997, Mr Anderson and his colleagues have regularly taken issue with the government. Earlier this year the committee criticised the then Europe Minister Keith Vaz for his lack of knowledge on Kosovo. Two years before, the committee's report on the "Arms to Africa" affair accused Sir John Kerr, permanent secretary at the foreign office, of failing in his duty to ministers.
Mr Anderson was educated, and later lectured in politics, at University College, Swansea and is a former diplomat and barrister who is distantly related to Conservative peer Michael Heseltine.
He became MP for Monmouth in 1966 and has been MP for Swansea East since 1974.
