Jo Johnson

Jo Johnson MP
Member of Parliament for Orpington
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Preceded by	John Horam
Majority	17,200 (35.2%)
Personal details
Born	23 December 1971 (1971-12-23) London
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford, INSEAD
Profession	Columnist
Website	www.jo-johnson.com

Joseph Edmund "Jo" Johnson (born 23 December 1971) is a Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Orpington since the general election in May 2010 . In January 2012, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mark Prisk, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise.

Family, early life and schooling

Johnson is the youngest of four children born to former Conservative MEP Stanley Johnson and artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl (née Fawcett), the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, a prominent barrister and president of the European Commission of Human Rights. He is the younger brother of Boris, the Mayor of London; Rachel, a writer and journalist; and Leo, an entrepreneur and film-maker.

He began his schooling in Brussels, at the European School in Uccle, before attending The Hall School in Hampstead, London, Ashdown House School in East Sussex, and then Eton College. In 1991, he went up to Balliol College, Oxford to read Modern History. He was a Scholar at Balliol, edited Isis, the Oxford University student magazine, and was awarded a First Class degree in both Honour Moderations (June 1992) and Finals (Honour School, June 1994).

A fluent French speaker, he did postgraduate study on the continent and has degrees from two further leading European universities, gaining an MBA from INSEAD in 2000 and a licence spéciale with distinction in 1995 from the Institut d’Etudes Européennes at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he was a Wiener-Anspach Fellow.

Journalistic career

Johnson joined the Financial Times in 1997, after working as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank and had two foreign postings, as Paris correspondent between 2001–2005, and then as South Asia Bureau Chief based in New Delhi from 2005 until 2008. Johnson then became an Associate Editor of the Financial Times and Head of the Lex Column, one of the most influential positions in British financial journalism. Previous 'Heads of Lex' include Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Martin Taylor, former chief executive of Barclays Bank, and Richard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry. Johnson left the Lex column in April 2010.

In April 2009, Johnson was named Foreign Journalist of the Year (Print) in India's leading media awards, the Indian Express Excellence in Journalism Awards. His books include the co-authored The Man Who Tried To Buy the World (Penguin, 2003) which was published in France as Une faillite française by Albin Michel in 2002.

A regular commentator on radio and television, he frequently speaks in public on the rise of India and the new world order, as well as on the UK political economy and financial affairs. He has received awards from a range of organisations, including most recently Amnesty International, the Foreign Press Association, the Society of Publishers in Asia and The Indian Express’s 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Most recently he has co-edited, with Dr Rajiv Kumar (Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) Reconnecting Britain and India: Ideas for an Enhanced Partnership (Academic Foundation 2011).

Political career

On 12 December 2009, Johnson was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Orpington from a shortlist of six contenders. He won the seat, tripling the Conservative majority to over 17,000.

Prior to his appointment as PPS in January 2012, Jo served as an elected member of the Public Accounts Committee, a select committee of the House of Commons. It is responsible for scrutinising government expenditures to ensure they are effective and represent value for money.

Personal life

Jo Johnson lives in London with his wife, Amelia Gentleman, a journalist for The Guardian and the daughter of artist and designer David Gentleman. They have two children.

External links

• Jo Johnson MP official constituency website
• Jo Johnson MP Conservative Party profile
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Profile and column archives at the Financial Times
  • Lex column
• Jo Johnson chairing fund-raising discussion at Christie's

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Horam	Member of Parliament for Orpington 2010–present	Incumbent