| Intro | British politician |
| Is | Politician |
| From | United Kingdom |
| Type | Politics |
| Gender | female |
| Birth | 25 July 1966 |
| Age: | 54 years |
Diana Ruth Johnson (born 25 July 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for 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. Johnson is a barrister and was a councillor in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets from 1994 to 2002, serving as Chair of social services. She became a barrister in 1991. From 1999–2005, she was a Barrister in Law at Paddington Law Centre.
Parliamentary career
She stood unsuccessfully in Brentwood and Ongar at the 2001 general election.
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. 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”
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.
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
Johnson was appointed in September 2015 by Jeremy Corbyn, shortly after he became Labour leader, as a shadow minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth team. In late June 2016, along with dozens of her colleagues, she resigned as a shadow minister, unhappy at the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn following the ‘leave’ vote in the European membership referendum.
Diana Johnson is Co-Chair to the APPG on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood and continues to fight for justice for those affected by the Tainted Blood Scandal. Johnson continues to call for a Hillsborough style investigation panel into the scandal, for which no statutory Inquiry or Investigation has been held in England. Many Campaigners and Politicians alike maintain the scandal has been subject to a Cover-Up.