Diana Johnson MP - Who is she?

Dame Diana Johnson was first elected as the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull North in 2005, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 7,593.

The constituency of Kingston upon Hull North has been held by the Labour Party continuously ever since 1964. A relatively small seat in terms of the size of its electorate, it spreads out from a number of working class housing estates such as Orchard Park to include some newer built estates on the edge of the City. The campus of the University of Hull is found within this seat.

In December 2021, Johnson became Chair of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. She was made a Dame in 2020.

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During the last Labour Government, Johnson served as Under Secretary of State at the Department for Children, Schools and Families between 2009 and 2010. She was an assistant government whip between 2007 and 2009.

In 2018, Johnson was named Backbencher of the Year in 2018, following her campaign to secure a Public Inquiry into the NHS contaminated blood scandal.

She is a vociferous campaigner on the infected blood scandal, and it was her amendment to the King’s Speech in December 2023 that led to Rishi Sunak’s first defeat as prime minister.

MPs voted, by a margin of 246 to 242, to establish a compensatory body for victims of the infected blood scandal. That was despite the government issuing a three-line whip to vote down the proposal.

The government had intended to wait until the statutory inquiry finishes to introduce a compensatory scheme, which is likely to happen next year.

In total, 22 Conservatives voted against the government, alongside 160 Labour MPs, as well as the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and other smaller parties.

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In 2020, Dame Diana put forward a Private Members Bill advocating a change to prostitution laws in the UK. Johnson wanted the UK to follow the Nordic model of criminalising those paying for sex.

Born in 1966, Diana Johnson was educated at Brunel University. She worked as a barrister before being elected to Parliament.

Johnson served on Tower Hamlets Borough Council between 1994 and 2002. In 2003, she became a London-wide Assembly member on the Greater London Authority.

Diana Johnson supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election against Jeremy Corbyn. There were attempts to deselect Johnson as a Labour candidate prior to the 2019 General Election, but ultimately she fought off the challenge.