Alan Johnson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Johnson in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home Secretary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jacqui Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Theresa May | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Health | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 28 June 2007 – 5 June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Patricia Hewitt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Andy Burnham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Education and Skills | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 May 2006 – 27 June 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ruth Kelly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ed Balls[a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Trade and Industry[b] President of the Board of Trade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 May 2005 – 5 May 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Patricia Hewitt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Alistair Darling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 8 September 2004 – 6 May 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Andrew Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | David Blunkett | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for Higher Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 13 June 2003 – 8 September 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Margaret Hodge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kim Howells | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chancellor of theUniversity of Hull | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 1 July 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vice Chancellor | Dave Petley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Virginia Bottomley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament forKingston upon Hull West and Hessle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 May 1997 – 3 May 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Stuart Randall(Hull West) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Emma Hardy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Alan Arthur Johnson (1950-05-17)17 May 1950 (age 75) London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Judith Cox Laura Patient Carolyn Burgess | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | East Riding of Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British former politician who served asSecretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007,Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009,Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, andShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2011. A member of theLabour Party, he was theMember of Parliament (MP) forKingston upon Hull West and Hessle from1997 to2017.[1]
Johnson served in theCabinet during both theTony Blair government andthat of Gordon Brown. He served underBlair asMinister of State for Universities from 2003 to 2004, asSecretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2004 to 2005, and asPresident of the Board of Trade from 2005 to 2006.
In May 2023, Johnson was announced as the next Chancellor of theUniversity of Hull. He succeededVirginia Bottomley in July.
Born in London on 17 May 1950, the son of Stephen and Lillian Johnson,[2] he wasorphaned at the age of 13 when his mother died, his father having previously abandoned the family, forcing his sister Linda to become the primary care-giver and breadwinner. Soon after this, they moved to acouncil flat in Pitt House,Battersea, immediately adjacent to theWinstanley and York Estates, a traumatic change from their previous address inNotting Hill.[3] Johnson describes how he and his sister faced hostility from neighbouring tenants, who were resentful because others (perceived by them as more deserving) were unable to obtain council housing at this time. This 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 2013 memoirThis Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood.[7]
Johnson passed theeleven-plus exam and attendedSloaneGrammar school inChelsea, now part ofPimlico Academy, and left school at the age of 15.[5] He then worked atTesco before becoming a postman at 18.[4] He was interested in music and joined two pop music bands.[5] Johnson joined theUnion of Communication Workers, becoming a branch official. He joined theLabour Party in 1971 and has described his views at the time asdemocratic socialist, having drawn ideological inspiration from studyingGeorge Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four in school,[8] although he also considered himself aMarxist ideologically aligned with theCommunist Party of Great Britain.[9] A full-time union official from 1987, he became General Secretary of the union in 1992.
Before enteringparliament Johnson was a member of Labour'sNational Executive Committee.[10] During this time he was the only major union leader to support the abolition ofClause IV.[11]
Just three weeks before the1997 general election, Johnson was selected to stand for parliament in the safe Labour seat ofHull West and Hessle when the previous incumbent,Stuart Randall, stood down suddenly. Randall subsequently became a member of theHouse of Lords.
He was appointedParliamentary Private Secretary toDawn Primarolo in 1997 and achieved his first ministerial post at theDepartment of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 1999. He was moved to theDepartment for Education and Skills in 2003 asMinister for Higher Education although he had left school at 15.
Johnson, along with other ministers inTony 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.[12] 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 ofSaddam Hussein, despite all the consequences, was a positive thing or that the consequences outweigh the positives of getting rid of a brutal tyrant."[13]
In September 2004, Prime MinisterTony Blair appointed Johnson to theCabinet asSecretary of State for Work and Pensions following resignation ofAndrew Smith. Following the2005 election, Johnson was initially announced on 6 May 2005 as being "Secretary of State for Productivity, Energy and Industry", but after just a week, on 13 May, it was declared that the new title would not be used, after widespread derision of the new name, because the abbreviation for Johnson's title, Productivity, Energy and Industry Secretary, would have been "PENIS".[14] The department's old name was kept and Johnson served asSecretary of State for Trade and Industry. On 5 May 2006, one day after the2006 local elections, his brief was changed to that ofSecretary of State for Education and Skills, replacingRuth Kelly.
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.[15] Johnson has also previously expressed some concerns over diplomas,[16] 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.[17] Johnson looked at improving pay and working conditions for teachers during his tenure as Education Secretary.[18]
Johnson becameSecretary of State for Health on 28 June 2007, succeedingPatricia Hewitt in Prime MinisterGordon Brown's firstCabinet. He later criticised breast cancer patient Debbie Hirst because she attempted to buy the cancer drugAvastin, 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".[19]
When there was a problem withC. 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.[20] 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.[21] When the case came to theCourt 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".[20]
On 5 June 2009, Johnson was appointed to the position ofHome Secretary during a reshuffle, replacing the first female holder of the post,Jacqui Smith.[22]
In October 2009, Johnson sacked the chairman of theAdvisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), ProfessorDavid Nutt. Nutt had accused the government of "distorting" and "devaluing" research evidence in the debate over illicit drugs,[23] criticising it for making political decisions with regard to drug classifications in rejecting the scientific advice to downgradeMDMA (Ecstasy) from a class A drug,[24] 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".[25]In January 2010, Professor Nutt established theIndependent Scientific Committee on Drugs, with the aim of publishing honest drug information.[26] By 2 April 2010, seven members of the ACMD had resigned.[27]
In February 2010, it came out in court thatMI5 had known thatBinyam 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".[28] He also said Government lawyers had not forced the judiciary to water down criticism of MI5, despite an earlier, draft ruling by Lord Neuberger, theMaster 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.[29]
Johnson publicly stated in May 2006 he expected to stand for the post of Leader of the Labour Party whenTony Blair stepped down. Johnson told the BBC in an interview on 9 November 2006[30] that he would in fact be supporting Brown and standing as deputy leader. He wassuccessfully nominated onto the ballot paper for Labour Deputy leader with most number of nominations. On 24 June 2007,[31] Johnson was narrowly beaten for the deputy leadership byHarriet 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 leaderGordon 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 backingDavid Miliband.[32]
In November 2014, amid criticism within the party of its leaderEd Miliband, Johnson again denied speculation that he was a potential leadership candidate.[33]
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.[34][35] However, Johnson decided not to stand for the Labour Party selection for Mayor and instead backedOona King for the candidacy, but she lost toKen Livingstone. In 2011, there was speculation that Livingstone could be deselected as the Labour candidate in favour of Johnson but that did not happen.[36] In 2012, following Livingstone's defeat byBoris Johnson, many Labour members said that Johnson should have been the Labour candidate. Johnson then revealed that he did consider standing forMayor of London but he felt that his allegiance was to Hull. However, he said that he would not stand forMayor of London in the 2016 elections as he wanted to stay on as an MP.[37]
Johnson is a strong supporter ofelectoral reform, advocating thealternative vote plus (AV+) system as recommended by theJenkins Commission.[38] 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 aproportional representation ticket.[39] He supported theYes! 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 whichEd Miliband also appeared.
Writing for theBlairiteProgress magazine in 2013, Johnson described trade union officials as "fat, white, finger-jabbing blokes on rostrums shouting and screaming"[40] 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."[41]
Johnson was chosen as Shadow Chancellor inEd Miliband's first shadow cabinet, appointed on 8 October 2010.[42] His first major speech was the Opposition response to thecomprehensive spending review.[43] 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 ofNational 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.[44] He resigned as Shadow Chancellor on 20 January 2011 after three and a half months in the job, citing personal reasons.[45] He was replaced byEd Balls.[46]
Johnson campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union in the2016 referendum,[47] and was chair of the Labour Party's 'Labour In For Britain' campaign.[48][49]
A critic of Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn, just before Corbyn waselected leader in 2016 for the second time, Johnson toldRachel Sylvester andAlice Thomson ofThe Times: "He is totally incompetent and incapable of being the leader of a political party and he knows it. Corbyn was 'useless' in the EU referendum campaign." Concerning moderates like himself: "We’ve got to recapture this party again otherwise it’s dead and finished and gone".[50][51][52] Johnson stood down at the2017 general election.[1] He was succeeded as MP byEmma Hardy.
In January 2020, he appeared as a contestant on reality singing showThe Masked Singer dressed as a pharaoh.[53]
In May 2023, he was appointed asChancellor of theUniversity of Hull and was installed on 1 July.[54]
His memoir of childhood,This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood, was published in 2013.[55] It won the Royal Society of LiteratureOndaatje Prize (2014),[56] and theOrwell Prize, Britain's top political writing award.[57]
His second volume of memoirs,Please, Mister Postman (2014), dealt with Johnson's time as a postman and as a union representative.[58][59] It won theSpecsavers National Book Awards "Autobiography of the Year".[60]
His third volume of memoirs,The Long and Winding Road (2016), covered Johnson's time as a politician in theUK Parliament.[61]
His fourth and final volume of memoirs,In My Life: A Music Memoir (2018), covered Johnson's lifelong interest in music.[62]
The titles of all four of his autobiographical books are titles of songs written or performed byThe Beatles.
Johnson has written a biography ofHarold Wilson, as part of a series of biographies on former British Prime Ministers, which was published in September 2024.[63]
Johnson has written three novels in theLouise Mangan series,[64] featuring Louise Mangan, a detective in theMetropolitan Police:
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.[67] The couple divorced in February 2014.[68] In December 2015, Johnson married his third wife, businesswoman Carolyn Burgess.[69]
His hobbies include music, tennis, reading, cooking, football, and radio.[2] He supportsQueens Park Rangers F.C..[70]
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 ofDas Kapital than Harold Wilson.
| Trade union offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | General Secretary of theUnion of Communication Workers 1992–1995 | Position abolished |
| New office | General Secretary of theCommunication Workers Union 1995–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forHull West and Hessle 1997–2017 | Succeeded by |
| 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 byasSecretary of State for Children, Schools and Families |
| 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 | |
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