Brian Griffiths, Baron Griffiths of Fforestfach

Early life

Brian Griffiths was born on 27 December 1941. He was educated Dynevor School, Swansea, and the London School of Economics.

Career

He was an Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In 1986, while Dean of the City University Business School, he resigned his chair to become her chief policy adviser.^[1] He was raised to the peerage as Baron Griffiths, of Fforestfach in the County of West Glamorgan in 1991.

He was Chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies from 1991 to 2001. He served on the Board of Directors of the Conservative Christian Fellowship from 2000 to 2002. He was a member of the European Union Sub-Committee F (Social Affairs, Education and Home Affairs) from 1999 to 2003 and the Religious Offences Committee from 2002 to 2003. He is a Vice-President of the Nature in Art Trust.^[2]

He serves as Vice-Chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He said he was “not ashamed” of the bank's compensation plans. He also said the issue of banking compensation should not be thought about solely from a short-term perspective. He defended the bank’s bonuses, Griffiths said the general public should “tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity for all”, saying also that “we should not ... be ashamed of offering compensation in an internationally competitive market which ensures the bank businesses here and employs British people”.^[3]