Diana Johnson
MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools
In office
5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Preceded by Sarah McCarthy-Fry
Succeeded by Jonathan Hill
Member of Parliament
for Kingston upon Hull North
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded by Kevin McNamara
Majority 14,262 (38.5%)
Personal details
Born (1966-07-25) 25 July 1966 (age 57)
Website dianajohnson.co.uk


Diana Ruth Johnson (born 25 July 1966) has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon 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.

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.

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.

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 she resigned as a shadow minister.