Diana Johnson

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.

Dame

Diana Johnson

DBE MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools
In office
5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded bySarah McCarthy-Fry
Succeeded byThe Lord Hill of Oareford
Member of Parliament
for Kingston upon Hull North
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded byKevin McNamara
Majority7,593 (22.2%)
Member of the London Assembly
for the Labour Party
In office
1 March 2003 – 10 June 2004
Preceded byTrevor Phillips
Succeeded byMurad Qureshi
Personal details
Born
Diana Ruth Johnson

(1966-07-25) 25 July 1966
Northwich, Cheshire, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Kevin Morton[1]
Alma materBrunel University
OccupationBarrister
Diana Johnson

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]

In 2020, Johnson brought forward an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill which would allow sex-selective abortions up to the age of 28 weeks [13]. A further amendment allowing both medical and surgical abortions to take place anywhere if a woman claims to be in an abusive relationship was also brought forward[14].

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,[15] in part for her campaigning on contaminated blood transfusions.[16]

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References
  1. "House of Commons - The Register of Members' Financial Interests - Part 2: Part 2". House of Commons. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  2. 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.
  3. "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Hull North". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  4. "Hull MP calls for schools to help protect children from sex abuse". ITV. 19 October 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  5. Chakelian, Anoosh (18 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet: the full list of ministers". New Statesman. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  6. 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.
  7. "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  8. 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.
  9. "Hull MP Diana Johnson wins top political award for Backbencher of the Year". BriefReport. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  10. Schofield, Kevin (7 September 2019). "Diana Johnson becomes first Labour MP to face reselection battle through trigger ballot process". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  11. Wood, Alex (25 October 2019). "Hull North MP Diana Johnson sees off Momentum-backed candidate". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  12. "Hull North parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  13. https://righttolife.org.uk/StopExtremeAbortion/
  14. https://righttolife.org.uk/StopExtremeAbortion/
  15. "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N8.
  16. 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.

News items
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Kevin McNamara		 Member of Parliament for Hull North
2005–present		 Incumbent
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