Career
He went to Street Francis Remote Control School in Abersychan near Pontypool, then the Mid Gwent College (now Coleg Gwent) in Pontypool. Before entering parliament, he had been a journalist from 1968-1976. From 1976-1990, he was the Editor of the Free Press of Monmouthshire (Monmouth Free Press).
From 1988-1992, he was the General Manager and Editor-in-Chief of the Free Press Group of newspapers.
He was the General Manager (business development) of the Bailey Group from 1992-1993, then of Bailey Print from 1993-1995. He served on Gwent County Council from 1973-1995.
He joined the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1962 and the Labour Party in 1966. He contested the Richmond and Barnes seat in the 1992 general election.
He was elected to Parliament in a by-election on 16 February 1995, to replace Neil Kinnock (party leader from 1983 to 1992), who had resigned.
From 1996-1997, he was on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. He served as parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown and as a whip before becoming a minister. He had to resign in 1999 when he confessed to receiving a leaked Social Security Select Committee report on Child benefit.
He was later suspended for three days from the Commons.
He was succeeded by John Healey. He was a junior minister at the Ministry of Defence, with special responsibility for veterans, but left government in the May 2006 reshuffle.
In Paul Flynn"s 1999 book Dragons and Poodles, he was described as being the seamstress-in-chief of stitch ups, and that he could be ambitious and can be pompous. On 29 January 2010, Touhig announced that he would stand down at the 2010 General Election.