Diana Johnson
Dame Diana Johnson | |
---|---|
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Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools | |
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010 | |
Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
Preceded by | Sarah McCarthy-Fry |
Succeeded by | The Lord Hill of Oareford |
Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull North | |
Assumed office 5 May 2005 | |
Preceded by | Kevin McNamara |
Majority | 7,593 (22.2%) |
Member of the London Assembly for the Labour Party | |
In office 1 March 2003 – 10 June 2004 | |
Preceded by | Trevor Phillips |
Succeeded by | Murad Qureshi |
Personal details | |
Born | Diana Ruth Johnson 25 July 1966 Northwich, Cheshire, England |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Kevin Morton[1] |
Alma mater | Brunel University |
Occupation | Barrister |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Shadow_Minister_for_the_Home_Office_Diana_Johnson_MP.jpg/160px-Shadow_Minister_for_the_Home_Office_Diana_Johnson_MP.jpg)
Dame Diana Ruth Johnson DBE (born 25 July 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull North since the 2005 general election.
She was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State with responsibility for Schools in the Department for Children, Schools and Families until the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, as well as being an Assistant Whip for the Government.
Early life
Johnson was born in Northwich, Cheshire. After returning from wartime service in the Navy her father, Eric Johnson, founded the Eric Johnson Electrical engineering (electricians) company in Little Leigh near Northwich, Cheshire (now continued by his son). She passed the Eleven plus and attended the Northwich County Grammar School for Girls (later the County High School Leftwich). At sixth form she level she studied at Sir John Deane's College from 1982-4 where she studied History, English and Economics.
She gained an LLB in Law from Brunel University. She became a barrister in 1991. From 1999–2005, she was a Barrister in Law at Paddington Law Centre.
Johnson was a councillor in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets from 1994 to 2002, serving as Chair of Social services. She became a member of the London Assembly on 1 March 2003 after the resignation of Trevor Phillips who became chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, having been next on the list of London-wide members at the 2000 election. She did not stand for re-election in 2004.
Parliamentary career
She stood unsuccessfully in Brentwood and Ongar at the 2001 general election.
At the May 2005 general election, she was elected Labour Member of Parliament for the Kingston upon Hull North constituency, succeeding veteran Labour MP Kevin McNamara. She is Hull's first female MP.
In November 2005 Johnson was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State for Pensions Reform, Stephen Timms. In 2007 she left this role to become an assistant Government Whip. She took on the additional role of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools in the reshuffle of June 2009.
During the scandal of MPs' expenses it was revealed that Johnson had claimed £987 in architects fees for her second home, which she voluntarily repaid, and had a £563 claim for crockery rejected as "excessive"[2]
In the 2010 general election Johnson polled 39.2% of the vote and held onto the Hull North constituency for Labour with her majority reduced to 641 votes.[3]
In 2014, Johnson proposed a Bill under the Ten Minute Rule that would require sex and relationships education, including discussions around issues such as consent, to be made a compulsory part of the National Curriculum[4]
Johnson was appointed in September 2015 by Jeremy Corbyn, shortly after he became Labour party leader, as a shadow minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth team.[5] In late June 2016, along with colleagues, she resigned as a shadow minister, unhappy at the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn following the 'leave' vote in the European membership referendum.[6] She supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.[7]
She is co-chair of the APPG on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood,[8] campaigned on the Contaminated Blood Scandal and, in November 2018, received the Political Studies Association's 'Backbencher of the Year' award in recognition of her efforts.[9]
In September 2019, Johnson became the first Labour MP to face a full reselection process by her local party after members voted that she should face a challenge.[10] On 25 October 2019, Johnson's local party voted by 292 votes to 101 to reselect her as the candidate for the next election.[11] She was re-elected in the 2019 general election.[12]
Honours
Johnson was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for charitable and political service,[13] in part for her campaigning on contaminated blood transfusions.[14]
References
- ^ "House of Commons - The Register of Members' Financial Interests - Part 2: Part 2". House of Commons. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ Prince, Rosa (19 May 2009). "MPs' expenses: Diana Johnson claims £987 for an architect and repays it two years later". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ^ "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Hull North". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
- ^ "Hull MP calls for schools to help protect children from sex abuse". ITV. 19 October 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ^ Chakelian, Anoosh (18 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet: the full list of ministers". New Statesman. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ Syal, Rajeev; Perraudin, Frances; Slawson, Nicola (27 June 2016). "Shadow cabinet resignations: who has gone and who is staying". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
- ^ Commons, The Committee Office, House of. "House of Commons - Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 20 December 2017: Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood". publications.parliament.uk.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Hull MP Diana Johnson wins top political award for Backbencher of the Year". BriefReport. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- ^ Schofield, Kevin (7 September 2019). "Diana Johnson becomes first Labour MP to face reselection battle through trigger ballot process". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
- ^ Wood, Alex (25 October 2019). "Hull North MP Diana Johnson sees off Momentum-backed candidate". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
- ^ "Hull North parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N8.
- ^ correspondent, Peter Walker Political (27 December 2019). "Iain Duncan Smith among three MPs in new year honours list". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
{{cite news}}
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External links
- Diana Johnson MP's website official site
- The Labour Party - Diana Johnson MP official biography
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Diana Johnson MP
- BBC Politics
- Appearances on C-SPAN
News items
- 1966 births
- Living people
- Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Labour Members of the London Assembly
- Councillors in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
- Alumni of Brunel University London
- People from Northwich
- 21st-century British women politicians
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- UK MPs 2010–2015
- UK MPs 2015–2017
- UK MPs 2017–2019
- UK MPs 2019–
- Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Parliamentary Private Secretaries to the Department for Work and Pensions