The Lord Johnson of Marylebone | |||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 24 July 2019 – 5 September 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Chris Skidmore | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Chris Skidmore | ||||||||||||||||||
| In office 11 May 2015 – 9 January 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | David Cameron Theresa May | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Greg Clark | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sam Gyimah | ||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for London | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 9 January 2018 – 9 November 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Theresa May | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Greg Hands | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Nick Hurd | ||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of State for Transport | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 9 January 2018 – 9 November 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Theresa May | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | John Hayes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jesse Norman | ||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of State at the Cabinet Office | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 15 July 2014 – 11 May 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | David Cameron | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Greg Clark | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Chris Skidmore | ||||||||||||||||||
| Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 25 April 2013 – 21 May 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | David Cameron | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nick Pearce | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Camilla Cavendish | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Joseph Edmund Johnson (1971-12-23)23 December 1971 (age 54) London, England | ||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Parents |
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| Relatives |
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| Education | Balliol College, Oxford (BA) Université libre de Bruxelles INSEAD (MBA) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||
Joseph Edmund Johnson, Baron Johnson of Marylebone (born 23 December 1971) is a British politician and peer who wasMinister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation from 2015 to 2018, and from July to September 2019. A member of theConservative Party, he wasMember of Parliament (MP) forOrpington from2010 to2019. He currently sits in theHouse of Lords. His older brother,Boris Johnson, wasPrime Minister of the United Kingdom between 2019 and 2022.
Johnson was appointedDirector of the Number 10 Policy Unit in 2013 by Prime MinisterDavid Cameron. He becameMinister of State for the Cabinet Office in 2014 andUniversities Minister in 2015. Following theJanuary 2018 cabinet reshuffle, Johnson served asMinister of State for Transport andMinister for London; he resigned in November the same year, citing the failure of theBrexit negotiations to achieve what had been promised by theVote Leave campaign and his wish to campaign for areferendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. In July 2019, he became part of his brother's Cabinet, again as Minister of State for Universities. Johnson and his brother became the third set of brothers to have served simultaneously in Cabinet – following Edward and Oliver Stanley in 1938, and David and Ed Miliband in 2007 – with Johnson being the first to serve as the brother of an incumbent prime minister.
In September 2019, heresigned from the Cabinet and announced that he would stand down as an MP at the2019 United Kingdom general election.[1] In July 2020, he was elevated to the House of Lords in the2019 Dissolution Honours. He is Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on Education for 11–16 year olds.[2][3]
Since leaving Government, Johnson has focused on the role of technology in widening access to education. He was appointed non-executive chairman atTes in December 2019. He is also now chairman of Access Creative College,[4] the largest independent provider of further education and training for the creative industries, and of FutureLearn, the global digital learning platform.[5] He is also a senior fellow at theHarvard Kennedy School,[6] and President's Professorial Fellow atKing's College London.[7] He has since returned to his work as ajournalist at outlets including theFinancial Times.[8]
Johnson resigned his directorship after 8 months service, atElara Capital PLC on the 1 February 2023.[9][10][11] His resignation statement, (by email) acknowledged recognition that his former role "requires greater domain expertise in specialised areas of financial regulation than I anticipated and, accordingly, I have resigned from the board."[10]
Johnson was born in London. He is the youngest of four children of formerConservativeMEPStanley Johnson and artistCharlotte Johnson Wahl (née Fawcett), the daughter ofSir James Fawcett, abarrister and president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rights from 1972 to 1981. Johnson is the brother ofBoris Johnson, the formerPrime Minister of the United Kingdom and Conservative MP forUxbridge and South Ruislip;Rachel, a journalist; and Leo, anentrepreneur, filmmaker and partner at the professional services firm,PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.[12][13][14]
Johnson first attended theEuropean School inUccle, before attendingThe Hall School in Hampstead, London,Ashdown House School in East Sussex, and thenEton College. In 1991, he went toBalliol College, Oxford, to read Modern History. He was a Scholar at Balliol, editedIsis, the Oxford University student magazine, and was awarded aFirst Class degree in both Honour Moderations (June 1992) and Finals (Honour School, June 1994).
While at Oxford, he was a member of theBullingdon Club together withHarry Mount,Nathaniel Rothschild andGeorge Osborne, with whom he remains a close friend.[15][16]
After graduating from theUniversité libre de Bruxelles, in 1995 Johnson joinedDeutsche Bank as aninvestment banker.
In 1997, he switched career paths and joined theFinancial Times. After a sabbatical in 1999/2000 during which he gained an MBA fromINSEAD, he returned to become Paris correspondent (2001–05), and then as South Asiabureau chief based inNew Delhi (2005–08). On return to London he became an associate editor of theFinancial Times and head of theLex Column, one of the most influential positions in Britishfinancial journalism.[17][18]
Previous 'Heads of Lex' includeNigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer,Martin Taylor, former chief executive of Barclays Bank, andRichard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry. Johnson left the Lex column in April 2010. He received awards for his journalism from a range of organisations, including the Foreign Press Association, the Society of Publishers in Asia andThe Indian Express's Excellence in Journalism Awards.
Johnson's books include the co-authoredThe Man Who Tried To Buy the World (Penguin, 2003),[19] about the French businessmanJean-Marie Messier. This was serialised inThe Guardian and published in France asUne faillite française by Albin Michel in 2002. He co-edited, withRajiv Kumar (secretary general,Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)Reconnecting Britain and India: Ideas for an Enhanced Partnership (Academic Foundation 2011).[20]
He commentated on radio and television,[21][22] and spoke in public on the rise of India, as well as on the UK political economy and financial affairs.[citation needed]
In 2009, he was selected as theConservativeparliamentary candidate for the safe seat ofOrpington in theLondon Borough of Bromley from ashortlist of six contenders.[23] At the2010 general election, he retained the seat for the Conservatives, tripling the majority of his predecessorJohn Horam to over 17,000. His majority increased again in thegeneral election of 2015, to 19,979.[24]
He increased the Conservative share of the vote in the constituency by 5.5% points to 62.9% at thegeneral election in June 2017, although his majority declined to 19,453.[25]
On 25 April 2013, he was appointed head of theNumber 10 Policy Unit byDavid Cameron to help develop the2015 Conservative manifesto.
As a junior Cabinet Office minister, he headed thePolicy Unit in thePrime Minister's Office,[26] and also chaired a newly createdConservative Parliamentary advisory board, known as the Prime Minister's Policy Board, consisting of Conservative MPs.
Johnson's appointment to head up the Downing Street policy unit was viewed as surprising byThe Guardian as he was perceived as being more pro-European and left-leaning than most Conservatives.[27]
On 11 May 2015, it was announced that Johnson had been appointedMinister for Universities and Science at theDepartment for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).[28][29] Writing about Johnson's appointment forTimes Higher Education, John Morgan said: "Mr Johnson's reputation as a pro-European is likely to please vice-chancellors, many of whom are concerned by the Tories' pledge to hold anin-out referendum on EU membership by 2017.Universities UK pointed out that British higher education institutions benefit from around £1.2 billion inEuropean research funding each year."[30]
In this role, Johnson introduced theHigher Education and Research Act 2017, which the Times Higher Education described as the most significant legislation in 25 years. This overhauled the regulatory framework forEnglish universities, replaced theHigher Education Funding Council for England with a new regulator, theOffice for Students, and established mechanisms to hold universities more accountable for the quality of teaching and student outcomes.[31] The Act also created a new single national strategic research body, UK Research and Innovation, bringing together the UK's fragmented research funding bodies.[32]
On 9 January 2018, Johnson left his role asMinister for Universities and accepted a new position asMinister of Transport andMinister for London.[33]
On 9 November 2018, Johnson resigned his position, citing disillusionment with the government's Brexit strategy and called for a fresh vote on Brexit with an option to remain. Johnson argued that Britain was "on the brink of the greatest crisis" since World War Two and claimed that what was on offer was not "anything like what was promised".[34][35]
Johnson called on his Conservative Party MPs to vote downTheresa May's Brexit deal on 11 December 2018, stating that it was 'half baked' and the 'worst of both worlds'.[36] Johnson resigned as a minister in December 2018 because he wanted to be free to endorse aproposed referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement.[37][38][35]
On 24 July 2019, it was announced that Jo Johnson was appointedMinister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation – this position would mean he would be attending the meetings of the cabinet.[39][40] He was appointed to theprivy council the next day.[41] On 5 September, Johnsonresigned as a Minister and announced he would stand down as MP, describing his position as "torn between family and national interest".[42][43][44] He stood down at thenext general election rather thanresigning. A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister would like to thank Jo Johnson for his service... The constituents of Orpington could not have asked for a better representative."[citation needed]
On 31 July 2020, the announcement was made of Johnson's elevation to the House of Lords as part of the2019 Dissolution Honours.[45][46] It was his elder brother Boris Johnson who established his peerage.[47] He was createdBaron Johnson of Marylebone, ofMarylebone in theCity of Westminster, on 29[48] October.[49][50] He delivered his maiden speech on the afternoon of Thursday 4 March 2021.
Johnson lives in London with his wife,Amelia Gentleman, a journalist forThe Guardian,[51] the daughter of artist and designerDavid Gentleman. The couple have two children.[52]
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{{cite news}}:|first2= has generic name (help)His older brother and then prime minister handed him a seat in the Lords the following year.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forOrpington 2010–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of State at the Cabinet Office 2014–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Universities 2015–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for London 2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Transport 2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Universities 2019 | Succeeded by |
| Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Gentlemen Baron Johnson of Marylebone | Followed by |
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