Nigel Griffiths - profile

Nigel Griffiths championed consumer causes

Nigel Griffiths, who has admitted an error in his parliamentary expenses, has been at the sharp end in the past.

The minister for small businesses was sacked three years ago from the very department in which he now works.

The MP for Edinburgh South had been a junior minister at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with responsibility for consumer affairs.

He was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle after a public row with his senior civil servants.

The row centres on a constituency office

He claimed that senior officials were plotting against him and added insult to injury by claiming they were lazy and incompetent.

His remarks earned him a rebuke from his boss, Margaret Beckett.

He had already survived calls for his resignation after claims that he was involved in a decision affecting a company in which he had interests.

He was said to have taken an administrative decision on the merger of Stena Line and P&O Ferries, while having a minor shareholding in the latter.

Pioneered fair trade

Born in Glasgow, Mr Griffiths was educated at Hawick High School, Edinburgh University and Moray House College of Education.

The 46-year-old MP has been a member of the Labour Party since he was 15 and was a councillor in Edinburgh for seven years during the 1980s.

He chaired the council's housing committee and set up the Wester Hailes Citizens Advice Bureau.

He also helped found the Big Issue in Scotland for homeless people and Scottish Education and Action for Development that pioneered fair trade with workers in the Third World.

Free airline flights

At the general election in 1987, he won the Edinburgh South seat after defeating Tory Michael Ancram.

Mr Griffiths was appointed as a junior minister in 1997 after championing a number of causes on behalf of consumers.

He had highlighted the debacle at Hoover over the promise of free airline flights and he persuaded three of the four clearing banks to reduce the processing of cheques from three days to one.

During his first time at the DTI he was responsible for establishing the new Competition Commission.

He has been an MP since 1987

His return to government after the last election earned him the nickname the comeback kid.

He was named minister for small business, export control, and arms non-proliferation.

Mr Griffiths is a member of a number of organisations, including Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth, and the Ramblers' Association.

In 1994, his father Lionel died on a mountaineering trip.

Registered in his name

The legacy that Mr Griffiths received was used to purchase the office at the centre of the current row.

He bought the property in Edinburgh's Minto Street for £68,000 and set up the Hansel Village Trust to provide money to help look after his autistic sister Hilary.

The property was registered in his name and he and his wife Sally were the trustees of the body which received £10,000 from the Commons in rent.

He did not declare this either in the Register of Members' interests or to the Fees Office.