Giske was elected into the Norwegian parliament for Sør-Trøndelag county in 1997, and served as Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs in the first cabinet of Jens Stoltenberg from 2000 to 2001, as Minister of Culture and Church Affairs in Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet from 2005 to 2009 and as Minister of Trade and Industry from 2009 to 2013. As a cabinet member he several times faced accusations of cronyism by having appointed little-qualified close friends to well paid government jobs, which also led to formal inquiries into his actions in the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs.