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Alan Johnson

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Lordjeffsofdelamere (talk | contribs) at 04:46, 21 January 2011 (For consistency - which the former editor neglected to consider - I took out the 'th' after the '20' in "20 January 2011," being the date Johnson resigned from the Shadow Cabinet.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other people named Alan Johnson (disambiguation), see Alan Johnson (disambiguation) (disambiguation).
The Right Honourable
Alan Johnson

MP
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
8 October 2010 – 20 January 2011
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded byAlistair Darling
Succeeded byEd Balls
Shadow Home Secretary
In office
11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
LeaderHarriet Harman
Ed Miliband
Preceded byChris Grayling
Succeeded byEd Balls
Home Secretary
In office
5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byJacqui Smith
Succeeded byTheresa May
Secretary of State for Health
In office
28 June 2007 – 5 June 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byPatricia Hewitt
Succeeded byAndy Burnham
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
In office
5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byRuth Kelly
Succeeded byEd Balls (at CSF)
John Denham (at IUS)
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office
6 May 2005 – 5 May 2006
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byPatricia Hewitt
Succeeded byAlistair Darling
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office
8 September 2004 – 6 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byAndrew Smith
Succeeded byDavid Blunkett
Member of Parliament
for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded byStuart Randall (Hull West)
Majority9,450 (34.0%)
Personal details
Born (1950-05-17) 17 May 1950 (age 74)
Paddington, London, England
Political partyLabour
Websitewww.AlanJohnson.org

Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hull West and Hessle since 1997. He was previously the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and announced he was stepping down on 20 January 2011. He also served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of Cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown Governments, including Health and Education Secretary. He was the first former trade union leader to serve in Cabinet since Frank Cousins in 1964.

Early life

Born in London, and orphaned at the age of 12 when his mother died, Johnson was then effectively brought up by his older sister when the two were assigned a council flat by their child welfare officer.[2][3] He passed the 11 plus exam and attended Sloane Grammar School in Chelsea, now part of Pimlico Academy, and left school at the age of 15.[3] He then stacked shelves at Tesco before becoming a postman at 18.[2] He was interested in music and joined two pop music bands.[3] Johnson joined the Union of Communication Workers, becoming a branch official. He joined the Labour Party in 1971, although he considered himself a Marxist ideologically aligned with the Communist Party of Great Britain.[4] A full-time union official from 1987, he became General Secretary of the newly formed Communication Workers Union in 1993 following a series of union mergers.

Before entering Parliament Johnson was a member of Labour's National Executive Committee. During this time he was the only major union leader to support the abolition of Clause IV.

Member of Parliament

Just three weeks before the 1997 general election, Johnson was selected to stand for Parliament in the safe Labour seat of Hull West and Hessle when the previous incumbent, Stuart Randall, stood down suddenly. Randall was subsequently elevated to the House of Lords.

In government

He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Dawn Primarolo in 1997 and achieved his first ministerial post at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 1999. He was moved to the Department for Education and Skills in 2003 as Minister for Higher Education though he had left school at 15.

Johnson entered the Cabinet in September 2004 as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions after the resignation of Andrew Smith. After the 2005 election he was appointed to the post of Secretary of State for Productivity, Energy and Industry as head of a department which replaced the DTI but which soon reverted to the old name. On 5 May 2006, one day after the English local elections, his brief was changed to that of Secretary of State for Education and Skills, replacing Ruth Kelly.

He became Secretary of State for Health on 28 June 2007, in the first Cabinet of new Prime Minister Gordon Brown, succeeding Patricia Hewitt. He was later appointed to the position of Home Secretary, one of the four Great Offices of State, in a turbulent reshuffle on 5 June 2009, succeeding Jacqui Smith.

Health Secretary

Johnson became Secretary of State for Health on 28 June 2007, succeeding Patricia Hewitt in Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. He later criticised breast cancer patient Debbie Hirst because she attempted to buy the cancer drug Avastin, which the NHS had denied her. Johnson told Parliament, patients “cannot, in one episode of treatment, be treated on the NHS and then allowed, as part of the same episode and the same treatment, to pay money for more drugs. That way lies the end of the founding principles of the NHS.”[5]

Home Secretary

On 5 June 2009, he was appointed to the position of Home Secretary during a reshuffle, replacing the first female holder of the post, Jacqui Smith.[6]

In October 2009 Alan Johnson sacked the Chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), Professor David Nutt. Nutt had accused the government of "distorting" and "devaluing" research evidence in the debate over illicit drugs,[7] criticising it for making political decisions with regard to drug classifications in rejecting the scientific advice to downgrade MDMA (Ecstasy) from a class A drug,[8] and rejecting the scientific advice not to reclassify cannabis from class C to class B drug. Alan Johnson wrote to the professor, "It is important that the government's messages on drugs are clear and as an advisor you do nothing to undermine public understanding of them. I cannot have public confusion between scientific advice and policy and have therefore lost confidence in your ability to advise me as Chair of the ACMD."[9] In January 2010, Professor Nutt established the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, with the aim of publishing honest drug information.[10] By 2 April 2010, seven members of the ACMD had resigned.[11]

In February, 2010, it came out in court that MI5 had known that Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, had been tortured or mistreated by the American services, despite earlier statements to the contrary.

In response, Johnson insisted that the media coverage of the torture had been “baseless, groundless accusations”.[12] He also claimed that Government lawyers had not forced the judiciary to water down criticism of MI5, despite an earlier, draft ruling by Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls that the Security Service had failed to respect human rights, deliberately misled parliament, and had a "culture of suppression" that undermined government assurances about its conduct.[13]

Education Secretary

During his time as education secretary, Johnson brought in new ideas and proposals, including encouraging parents to spend more time with their children in a bid to help them progress with their literacy and numeracy skills.[14] Johnson has also previously expressed some concerns over diplomas,[15] and has opened up debate in parliament on the subject of what parental situation is best. He stated that in his view, it is the parents themselves who make the difference, not their marital situation.[16] Johnson looked at improving pay and working conditions for teachers during his tenure as Education Secretary.[17]

Deputy Leadership Candidate 2007

Johnson publicly stated in May 2006 he expected to stand for the post of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party when John Prescott stepped down. Johnson told the BBC in an interview on 9 November 2006[18] that he would in fact be supporting Brown and standing as deputy leader. He was successfully nominated onto the ballot paper for Labour Deputy leader with most number of nominations. On 24 June 2007,[19] Johnson was narrowly beaten for the deputy leadership by Harriet Harman. He led in rounds 2 to 4 of the voting, until he was overtaken by Harman in the last round, eventually finishing with 49.56% of the vote.

Potential for Labour Party leadership

Having been touted in the media as a possible successor to outgoing Labour leader Gordon Brown, Johnson officially announced to the BBC on 12 May 2010 that he would not be standing in the forthcoming leadership contest, and would instead be backing David Miliband.[20]

Views on electoral reform

Johnson is a strong supporter of electoral reform and proportional representation advocating the Alternative Vote Plus (AV+) as recommended by the Jenkins Commission.[21] He has indicated that he will certainly seek support within the Labour Party for an amendment to the government's forthcoming draft bill on Electoral Reform, to add AV+ as an additional choice in the referendum.

Shadow Chancellor

Johnson was chosen as shadow chancellor in Ed Miliband's first shadow cabinet, appointed on 8 October 2010.[22] His first major speech was the opposition response to the comprehensive spending review.[23] After only three months on the 20 January 2011 he resigned as shadow chancellor, citing personal reasons, and was replaced by Ed Balls.[24]

Personal life

Johnson has been married twice. Firstly to Judith Cox, in 1968, with whom he has one son and two daughters. After his divorce he married Laura Jane Patient in 1991, with whom he has one son[25] who was born in 2000.[26]

References

  1. ^ Grayling, AC (21 August 2008). "The rise of Miliband brings at last the prospect of an atheist prime minister". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  2. ^ a b The charming Mr Johnson, The Economist, 14 September 2006
  3. ^ a b c "Desert Island Discs with Alan Johnson". Desert Island Discs. 2007-10-07. BBC. Radio 4. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "NS profile: Alan Johnson". New Statesman. Retrieved 2006-08-20.
  5. ^ Goldstein, Jacob (2008-02-21). "U.K. Wrestles Over Private Payment for Health Care - Health Blog - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  6. ^ "I won't walk away, insists Brown". BBC News Online. London: BBC. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  7. ^ Tran, Mark (30 October 2009). Government drug adviser David Nutt sacked. The Guardian.
  8. ^ Travis, Alan (February 2009). "Government criticised over refusal to downgrade ecstasy". London: The Guardian.
  9. ^ Easton, Mark (30 October 2009). Nutt gets the sack. BBC News.
  10. ^ "Nutt vows to set up new drug body". BBC News. 4 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  11. ^ "Government adviser Eric Carlin quits over mephedrone". BBC News. 2 April 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  12. ^ [1]. Time Online. 12 Feb 2010.
  13. ^ Richard Norton-Taylor and Ian Cobain. "Top judge: Binyam Mohamed case shows MI5 to be devious, dishonest and complicit in torture | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  14. ^ "Parents urged to read to children". London: BBC news. 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  15. ^ Harrison, Angela (2007-03-09). "Diplomas 'may go horribly wrong'". London: BBC news. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  16. ^ Assinder, Nick (2007-02-27). "Johnson opens up family debate". London: BBC news. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  17. ^ "Fairer pay for part-time teachers". London: BBC news. 2007-02-07. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  18. ^ "Johnson backing Brown for leader". London: BBC news. 2006-11-09. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  19. ^ "Harman wins deputy leader contest". London: BBC news. 2007-06-24. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  20. ^ "Labour leadership: David Miliband enters contest". BBC News. 2010-05-12. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  21. ^ "Here's how to give power back to the people". London: The Observer. 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  22. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/08/alan-johnson-shadow-chancellor-cabinet Alan Johnson is named shadow chancellor in Miliband frontbench team
  23. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/18/alan-johnson-banks-deficit-tax Alan Johnson: Bankers should pay £3.5bn more to tackle deficit
  24. ^ http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE70J5CR20110120 Ed Balls to take fight to government on economy
  25. ^ "While Blair converts to Catholicism, only 8 Ministers say they believe in God". London: Daily Mail. 2007-12-08. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
  26. ^ Greenstreet, Rosanna (24 October 2009). "Q&A: Alan Johnson | Life and style". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alan Johnson.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byas Member of Parliament for Hull West Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle
1997–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
2004–2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
2005–2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Education and Skills
2006–2007 		Succeeded byas Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
Succeeded byas Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Preceded by Secretary of State for Health
2007–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Home Secretary
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Shadow Home Secretary
2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
2010–2011 		Succeeded by
Non-profit organisation positions
Preceded by General Secretary of the Union of Communication Workers
1992–1995 		Position abolished
New title General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union
1995–1997 		Succeeded by

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