Born in London on 17 May 1950,the son of Stephen and Lillian Johnson,[2] he was orphaned at the age of 13 when his mother died,his father having previously abandoned the family. Following this,in 1964 Johnson and his elder sister Linda moved to a council flat in Pitt House,Battersea,immediately adjacent to the Winstanley and York Estates,a traumatic change from their previous address in Notting Hill.[3] Johnson describes how he and his sister faced hostility from other tenants unhappy because others were unable to obtain council housing at this time,which forced Linda to become the primary care-giver and meant that their flat was often broken into and targeted for vandalism.[4][5][6] Linda,herself aged only 16 at that time,has since been recognised as the hero of Johnson's poignant 2013 memoir This Boy:A Memoir of a Childhood.[7]
Johnson,along with other ministers in Tony Blair's government,and many other MPs,attracted much criticism for voting on 18 March 2003 for the Iraq war:"to use all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction" leading to the UK joining the US invasion of Iraq two days later.[11] He responded to such criticism on 21 February 2007 by saying "The whole cabinet believed the intelligence we were presented [with] and we made our case to the British people based on it in good faith. As we all now know,that intelligence was wholly wrong. We will be judged historically as to whether getting rid of Saddam Hussein,despite all the consequences,was a positive thing or that the consequences outweigh the positives of getting rid of a brutal tyrant."[12]
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]
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".[18]
When there was a problem with C.difficile at hospitals managed by the Maidstone &Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust,they dismissed their "blameless" chief executive "both unlawfully ... and unfairly" and agreed to pay her £250,000,much less than the sum that they were told that defending a case for unfair dismissal would cost.[19] When the proposed payment became known,Johnson intervened and the Department of Health ordered the trust to withhold more than two-thirds of the severance payment,although its director general of finance,performance and operations said that "it was 'not unfair'" that she should receive the money.[20] When the case came to the Court of Appeal,the payment was restored in a judgement that was highly critical of the Department,including quoting her complaint that Johnson had made "personal comments made about me ... without any reference to the Trust,or informing me,... regarding my severance value and its non-payment".[19]
Home Secretary
On 5 June 2009,Johnson was appointed to the position of Home Secretary during a reshuffle,replacing the first female holder of the post,Jacqui Smith.[21]
In October 2009,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,[22] 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,[23] and rejecting the scientific advice not to reclassify cannabis from class C to class B drug. 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".[24] In January 2010,Professor Nutt established the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs,with the aim of publishing honest drug information.[25] By 2 April 2010,seven members of the ACMD had resigned.[26]
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".[27] He also said 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.[28]
Deputy leadership candidate and potential leader
Johnson publicly stated in May 2006 he expected to stand for the post of Leader of the Labour Party when Tony Blair stepped down. Johnson told the BBC in an interview on 9 November 2006[29] 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,[30] 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.
Having been touted in the media as a possible successor to outgoing Labour leader Gordon Brown,Johnson 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.[31]
In November 2014,amid criticism within the party of its leader Ed Miliband,Johnson again denied speculation that he was a potential leadership candidate.[32]
Potential London Mayoral candidate
Johnson in Hull,2011
In 2010,there was much speculation that Johnson was going to stand as a candidate for the London Mayoral election after announcing that he was not going to contest the leadership. Many of Johnson's close allies encouraged him to stand for the Mayoralty and he was thought to have been considering it.[33][34] However,Johnson decided not to stand for the Labour Party selection for Mayor and instead backed Oona King for the candidacy,but she lost to Ken Livingstone. In 2011,there was speculation that Livingstone could be deselected as the Labour candidate in favour of Johnson but that did not happen.[35] In 2012,after Livingstone's defeat by Boris Johnson,many Labour members said that Johnson should have been the Labour candidate. Johnson then revealed that he did consider standing for Mayor of London but he felt that his allegiance was to Hull. However,he said that he would not stand for Mayor of London in the 2016 elections as he wanted to stay on as an MP.[36]
Views on electoral reform
Johnson is a strong supporter of electoral reform,advocating the Alternative Vote Plus (AV+) system as recommended by the Jenkins Commission.[37] He indicated that he would seek support within the Labour Party for an amendment to the government's Bill on Electoral Reform,to add AV+ as an additional choice in the referendum. In 2010,it was rumoured that he would step down as an MP to trigger a by-election in Hull,to stand on a proportional representation ticket.[38] He supported the Yes! to Fairer Votes campaign in the referendum on 5 May 2011. He appeared as one of the main Labour supporters of the Yes! campaign at a London event on 3 May 2011,at which Ed Miliband also appeared.
Views on trade unionism
Writing for the BlairiteProgress magazine in 2013,Johnson described trade union officials as "fat,white,finger-jabbing blokes on rostrums shouting and screaming"[39] and said in 2014 that "A perception that Labour is in the pocket of the unions is damaging to the party ... The precious link between Labour and the unions becomes a liability rather than an advantage when it is allowed to look like a transaction."[40]
Shadow Chancellor
Johnson was chosen as Shadow Chancellor in Ed Miliband's first shadow cabinet,appointed on 8 October 2010.[41] His first major speech was the Opposition response to the comprehensive spending review.[42] The BBC reported that he had made several "gaffes" in his role as Shadow Chancellor and "in an interview he appeared not to know the rate of National Insurance paid by employers,and he was also reported to have clashed with his party leader over the policy of introducing a graduate tax to replace university tuition fees.[43] He resigned as Shadow Chancellor on 20 January 2011 after three and a half months in the job,citing personal reasons.[44] He was replaced by Ed Balls.[45]
Since 2015
Johnson campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum,[46] and was chair of the Labour Party's 'Labour In For Britain' campaign.[47][48]
Johnson has been married three times. His first marriage was to Judith Elizabeth Cox,with whom he has one son and two daughters.[2] After their divorce,he married Laura Jane Patient in 1991;the couple had a son,Ollie,born in 2000.[54] The couple divorced in February 2014.[55] In December 2015,Johnson married his third wife,businesswoman Carolyn Burgess.[56]
His hobbies include music,tennis,reading,cooking,football,and radio.[2] He supports Queens Park Rangers.[57]
Memoirs
His memoir of childhood,This Boy:A Memoir of a Childhood,was published in 2013.[58] It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize (2014),[59] and the Orwell Prize,Britain's top political writing award.[60]
His third volume of memoirs,The Long and Winding Road (2016),covered Johnson's time as a politician in the UK Parliament.[64]
His fourth and final volume of memoirs,In My Life:A Music Memoir (2018),covered Johnson's lifelong interest in music.[65]
The titles of all four of his books are titles of songs written or performed by The Beatles.
Novels
Johnson's first work of fiction,a thriller titled The Late Train to Gipsy Hill,was published in 2021.[66] In 2022,he wrote One Of Our Ministers Is Missing,a crime novel.[67]
Related Research Articles
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British politician who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2023. A member of the Labour Party,he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds Central since a by-election in 1999. He served in the Cabinet from 2003 to 2010,under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He also served as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2015 to 2016 and as Chairman of the Brexit Select Committee from 2016 to 2021.
Andrew Murray Burnham is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008,Culture Secretary from 2008 to 2009 and Health Secretary from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party,Burnham identifies as a socialist and as belonging to the party's soft left. He served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2015 to 2016 and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Leigh from 2001 to 2017.
Yvette Cooper is a British politician serving as Shadow Home Secretary under Keir Starmer since 2021,having also served in the position under Ed Miliband from 2011 to 2015. She previously served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2008 to 2009 and Work and Pensions Secretary from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party,she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Normanton,Pontefract and Castleford,previously Pontefract and Castleford,since 1997.
Dame Angela Eagle DBE is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Eagle was born in Yorkshire and studied PPE at the University of Oxford,before working for the CBI and then a trade union.
Caroline Louise Flint is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Don Valley from 1997 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party,she attended the Cabinet as Minister for Housing and Planning in 2008 and Minister for Europe from 2008 to 2009.
James Francis Murphy is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2014 to 2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 to 2010. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire,formerly Eastwood,from 1997 to 2015. He identifies as a social democrat and has expressed support for a foreign policy of Western interventionism. He has been described as being on the political right of the Labour Party.
Ivan Lewis is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury South from 1997 to 2019,initially as a member of the Labour Party then as an independent from 2017.
Dame Diana Ruth Johnson is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull North since the 2005 general election. A member of the Labour Party,she was elected as Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 15 December 2021,replacing Yvette Cooper.
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother,Foreign Secretary David Miliband,he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Mary Helen Creagh is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield from 2005 to 2019.
Patrick Bosco McFadden is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Labour National Campaign Coordinator since September 2023. He served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2021 and 2023. A member of the Labour Party,he has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 2005.
Ian Christopher Austin,Baron Austin of Dudley is a British politician who sits as a life peer in the House of Lords. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley North from the 2005 general election until the 2019 general election when he stood down. Formerly a member of the Labour Party,he resigned from the party on 22 February 2019 to sit as an independent,and was ennobled in the 2019 Dissolution Honours. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2009 to 2010.
The 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election was a British political party election for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party. John Prescott,the previous deputy leader,announced on 10 May 2007 that he was standing down from that position and that he would be leaving as deputy prime minister about the same time that Tony Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister.
Chuka Harrison Umunna is a British businessman and former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham from 2010 until 2019. A former member of the Labour Party,he was part of the Shadow Cabinet from 2011 to 2015. He left Labour in February 2019,when he resigned to form The Independent Group,later Change UK,along with six other MPs. Later in 2019,he left Change UK and,after a short time as an independent MP,joined the Liberal Democrats. In the 2019 general election,he was unsuccessful in being re-elected as an MP and did not return to the House of Commons.
Edward Michael Balls is a British broadcaster,economist and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children,Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010,and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party,he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Normanton and later for Morley and Outwood between 2005 and 2015.
Lilian Rachel Greenwood is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South since 2010,and the Shadow Minister for Arts,Heritage and Civil Society since 2023.
The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2010 by incumbent leader Gordon Brown's resignation following the 2010 general election which resulted in a hung parliament;the first since 1974. Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party on 10 May and as Prime Minister on 11 May,following the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats forming a coalition government. The National Executive Committee decided the timetable for the election the result of which would be announced at the annual party conference. On 25 September 2010,Ed Miliband became the new Leader of the Labour Party,narrowly defeating his older brother,David.
Leonard David McCluskey is a British trade unionist. He was General Secretary of Unite the Union,the largest affiliate and a major donor to the Labour Party. As a young adult,he spent some years working in the Liverpool Docks for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company prior to becoming a full-time union official for the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&GWU) in 1979.
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth is a British politician who has served as Shadow Paymaster General since September 2023. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties,he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South since 2011.
The 2015 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party on 8 May 2015,following the party's defeat at the 2015 general election. Harriet Harman,the Deputy Leader,became Acting Leader but announced that she would stand down following the leadership election. It was won by Jeremy Corbyn in the first round. Coterminous with the leadership election,in the 2015 Labour Party deputy leadership election,Tom Watson was elected to succeed Harman as deputy leader.
↑ Routledge, Paul (29 November 2004). "NS Profile – Alan Johnson". New Statesman. Progressive Media International. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2016. I wasn't a Trot," he insists. "I was more CPGB [Communist Party of Great Britain]. I did consider myself to be a Marxist – I read more chapters of Das Kapital than Harold Wilson.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
