Alan johnson biography

Praise for In My Life

Alan Johnson was General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union before entering Parliament as Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle in He served as Home Secretary from June to May Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. His childhood memoir ‘This Boy’ was published by Bantam Press on 9th May It won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and the Orwell Prize, Britain's top political writing award. His second volume of memoirs. ‘Please Mr Postman’, was published in September and won the National Book Club award for Best Biography. The final book in his memoir trilogy, ‘The Long and winding Road’, was published in September and won the Parliamentary Book Award for Best Memoir. Alan retired as an MP before the general election after 20 years as an MP. On 20th September his latest book, ‘In My Life – A Music Memoir’ was launched at Studio 2, Abbey Road where the Beatles made almost all of their records. He and his wife Carolyn live in East Yorkshire.

British politician (born )

For other people named Alan Johnson, see Alan Johnson (disambiguation).

Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May ) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from to , Secretary of State for Health from to , Home Secretary from to , and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from to A member of the Labour Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle from to

Johnson served in the Cabinet during both the Tony Blair government and that of Gordon Brown. He served under Blair as Minister of State for Universities from to , as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from to , and as President of the Board of Trade from to

In May , Johnson was announced as the next Chancellor of the University of Hull. He succeeded Virginia Bottomley in July.

Early life

Born in London on 17 May , the son of Stephen and Lillian Johnson, he was orphaned 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 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. 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. Linda, herself aged only 16 at that time, has since been recognised as the hero of Johnson's poignant memoir This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood.

Johnson passed the eleven-plus exam and attended SloaneGrammar school in Chelsea, now part of Pimlico Academy, and left school at the age of