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[[Category:Labour Members of Parliament]]
[[Category:Labour Members of Parliament]]

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
<div class="column" style="margin 1em; float: left; width:95em%;">
{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}
<div style= "margin: 1em;width:22em; border:3px solid #ddd;">
{{BLP sources|date=April 2015}}

{{Infobox Officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name = John Healey
|name = John Healey
|honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MP}}
|honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MP}}
|image = Official portrait of John Healey crop 2.jpg
|image = Official portrait of John Healey crop 2.jpg
|office = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Housing]]
|office = Shadow Secretary of State for Housing
|leader = [[Jeremy Corbyn]]
|leader = [[Jeremy Corbyn]]
|term_start = 7 October 2016
|term_start = 7 October 2016
Line 14: Line 15:
|predecessor = ''Position established''
|predecessor = ''Position established''
|successor =
|successor =
|office1 = [[Department for Communities and Local Government|Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning]]
|office1 = Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning
|leader1 = [[Jeremy Corbyn]]
|leader1 = [[Jeremy Corbyn]]
|term_start1 = 13 September 2015
|term_start1 = 13 September 2015
|term_end1 = 27 June 2016
|term_end1 = 27 June 2016
|predecessor1 = [[Roberta Blackman-Woods]]
|predecessor1 = Roberta Blackman-Woods
|successor1 = [[Andy Slaughter]] {{small|([[Department for Communities and Local Government|Housing]])}}
|successor1 = [[Andy Slaughter]] {{small|(Department for Communities and Local Government|Housing)}}
|office2 = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Health]]
|office2 = Shadow Secretary of State for Health
|leader2 = [[Ed Miliband]]
|leader2 = [[Edward Miliband]]
|term_start2 = 8 October 2010
|term_start2 = 8 October 2010
|term_end2 = 6 October 2011
|term_end2 = 6 October 2011
|predecessor2 = [[Andy Burnham]]
|predecessor2 = Andy Burnham
|successor2 = [[Andy Burnham]]
|successor2 = Andy Burnham
|office3 = [[Department for Communities and Local Government|Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government]]
|office3 = Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government
|leader3 = [[Harriet Harman]] {{small|(Acting)}}<br>[[Ed Miliband]]
|leader3 = Harriet Harman {{small|(Acting)}}<br>[[Edward Miliband]]
|term_start3 = 11 May 2010
|term_start3 = 11 May 2010
|term_end3 = 8 October 2010
|term_end3 = 8 October 2010
|predecessor3 = [[Grant Shapps]]
|predecessor3 = Grant Shapps
|successor3 = [[Alison Seabeck]]
|successor3 = Alison Seabeck
|office4 = [[Department for Communities and Local Government|Minister of State for Housing and Planning]]
|office4 = Minister of State for Housing and Planning
|primeminister4 = [[Gordon Brown]]
|primeminister4 = Gordon Brown
|term_start4 = 5 June 2009
|term_start4 = 5 June 2009
|term_end4 = 11 May 2010
|term_end4 = 11 May 2010
|predecessor4 = [[Margaret Beckett]]
|predecessor4 = Margaret Beckett
|successor4 = [[Grant Shapps]] {{small|(Housing and Local Government)}}
|successor4 = Grant Shapps {{small|(Housing and Local Government)}}
|office5 = [[Department for Communities and Local Government|Minister of State for Local Government]]
|office5 = Minister of State for Local Government
|primeminister5 = [[Gordon Brown]]
|primeminister5 = Gordon Brown
|term_start5 = 28 June 2007
|term_start5 = 28 June 2007
|term_end5 = 5 June 2009
|term_end5 = 5 June 2009
|predecessor5 = [[Phil Woolas]]
|predecessor5 = Phil Woolas
|successor5 = [[Rosie Winterton]]
|successor5 = [[Rosie Winterton]]
|office6 = [[Financial Secretary to the Treasury]]
|office6 = Financial Secretary to the Treasury
|primeminister6 = [[Tony Blair]]
|primeminister6 = Tony Blair
|term_start6 = 6 May 2005
|term_start6 = 6 May 2005
|term_end6 = 28 June 2007
|term_end6 = 28 June 2007
|predecessor6 = [[Stephen Timms]]
|predecessor6 = [[Stephen Timms]]
|successor6 = [[Jane Kennedy (politician)|Jane Kennedy]]
|successor6 = Jane Kennedy
|office7 = [[Economic Secretary to the Treasury]]
|office7 = Economic Secretary to the Treasury
|primeminister7 = [[Tony Blair]]
|primeminister7 = Tony Blair
|term_start7 = 15 December 2002
|term_start7 = 15 December 2002
|term_end7 = 6 May 2005
|term_end7 = 6 May 2005
|predecessor7 = [[Ruth Kelly]]
|predecessor7 = Ruth Kelly
|successor7 = [[Ivan Lewis]]
|successor7 = Ivan Lewis
|office8 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[Wentworth and Dearne (UK Parliament constituency)|Wentworth and Dearne]]<br>{{small|[[Wentworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Wentworth]] (1997–2010)}}
|office8 = Member of Parliament<br>for [[Wentworth and Dearne]]<br>{{small||Wentworth (1997–2010)}}
|term_start8 = 1 May 1997
|term_start8 = 1 May 1997
|term_end8 =
|term_end8 =
|predecessor8 = [[Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath|Peter Hardy]]
|predecessor8 = Peter Hardy
|successor8 =
|successor8 =
|majority8 = 14,803 (33.7%)
|majority8 = 14,803 (33.7%)
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|2|13|df=y}}
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|2|13|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Wakefield]], [[England]], UK
|birth_place =
|death_date =
|death_date =
|death_place =
|death_place =
|party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
|party =
|spouse = Jackie Bate
|spouse =
|education = [[St Peter's School, York]]
|education =
|alma_mater = [[Christ's College, Cambridge]]
|alma_mater =
|website = {{url|johnhealeymp.co.uk|Official website}}
|website = {{url|johnhealeymp.co.uk|Official website}}
}}
}}
'''John Healey''' (born 13 February 1960) is a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician and former trade union and charity campaigner, who has been the [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Wentworth and Dearne (UK Parliament constituency)|Wentworth and Dearne]] since [[United Kingdom general election, 1997|1997]], and [[Department for Communities and Local Government|Minister of State for Housing]]. In 2010 he was elected to the shadow cabinet and appointed shadow health secretary. He stood down from the role in October 2011 and was succeeded by [[Andy Burnham]]. He is currently Shadow Secretary of State for Housing.


</div>
==Early life==
</div>
John Healey was born in [[Wakefield]], the son of Aidan Healey [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]. He was educated at the [[Lady Lumley's School]] in [[Pickering, North Yorkshire|Pickering]] before attending the independent [[St Peter's School, York]] sixth form college. Healey studied [[Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge|Social and Political Science]] at [[Christ's College, Cambridge]]<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/jul/25/guardiansocietysupplement.politics2 | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=More power to the regions | first=Peter | last=Hetherington | date=24 July 2007}}</ref> where he received a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in 1982. He worked as a journalist and the deputy editor of the internal magazine of the [[Palace of Westminster]], ''The House Magazine'' for a year in 1983. In 1984 he became a full-time [[disability rights movement|disability rights]] campaigner for several national charities.


Healey joined Issues Communications in 1990 as a campaign manager before becoming the head of communications at the [[Manufacturing, Science and Finance]] [[trade union]] in 1992. He was appointed as the campaign director with the [[Trades Union Congress]] in 1994 in which capacity he remained until his election to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. He was also a tutor at the [[Open University#Business school|Open University Business School]].


'''John Healey''' (born 13 February 1960) has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for [[Wentworth and Dearne]] since 1997, and Minister of State for Housing. In 2010 he was elected to the shadow cabinet and appointed shadow health secretary. He stood down from the role in October 2011 and was succeeded by Andy Burnham. He is currently Shadow Secretary of State for Housing.
Healey's first venture into Parliamentary politics was an unsuccessful attempt to gain the [[Ryedale (UK Parliament constituency)|Ryedale]] seat at the [[United Kingdom general election, 1992|1992 general election]]. As the Labour candidate, Healey finished in third place, some 30,076 votes behind the sitting [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[John Greenway (MP)|John Greenway]].


== Paliamentary Career ==
==Member of Parliament==
Healey served as a member of the education and employment select committee from 1997 until he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in 1999. He was given an executive position following the 2001 general election in an appointment as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State] for the Department for Education and Skills.


Healey was promoted in 2002 to the position of Economic Secretary to the Treasury and nominally again following the 2005 general election when he took the role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
===Selection===


Healey's responsibilities included government statistics, (including the Office for National Statistics which is to become an independent body after passage of the current bill he has been steering through parliament), along with implementation of the government's 10 year strategy for science and innovation, which directs spending of around £5 billion a year. Inter alia, this has led to the controversial abolition of the Research Assessment Exercise. However, he has never made a speech on this area of responsibility and did not answer questions about it.
Although John Healey had not been the first choice as the Labour candidate in [[Wentworth, South Yorkshire|Wentworth]] for the 1997 general election he won by a convincing margin after a long campaign. It was rumoured that the Labour leadership had tried to insert the former Conservative MP for [[Stratford-on-Avon (UK Parliament constituency)|Stratford-on-Avon]], [[Alan Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport|Alan Howarth]], who had ''[[crossing the floor|crossed the floor]]'' and joined the Labour Party in 1995.


On 29 June 2007, he was moved to the Department for Communities and Local Government as a result of a government reshuffle. His position as Financial Secretary was filled by Jane Kennedy. Shortly after his appointment he was announced as the Floods Recovery Minister, with responsibility for assisting the recovery from recent widespread flooding across the United Kingdom. It was announced he would be appointed to the Privy Council in October 2008.
The other prospective candidates were journalist [[Yvette Cooper]] who went on to be selected for [[Pontefract and Castleford (UK Parliament constituency)|Pontefract and Castleford]] and Rotherham Cllrs. Ken Wyatt and Cllr. Roger Stone. Finally Healey was chosen for this very safe Labour seat.


In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, he was appointed Minister of State (Housing), replacing Margaret Beckett who had resigned. While Minister of State for Housing and Planning he was critised for suggesting that more people are renting rather than buying their own homes was a good thing.
At the [[United Kingdom general election, 1997|1997 general election]], Healey successfully contested the seat of [[Wentworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Wentworth]], which had become available following the retirement of the Labour MP [[Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath|Peter Hardy]]. Healey held the seat with a majority of 23,959 and has remained the MP to date.

===In government===
Healey served as a member of the [[Department for Education and Skills (United Kingdom)|education and employment]] [[Select Committee (Westminster System)|select committee]] from 1997 until he became the [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] to the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[Gordon Brown]] in 1999. He was given an executive position following the [[United Kingdom general election, 2001|2001 general election]] in an appointment as the [[Parliamentary Under Secretary of State]] for the [[Department for Education and Skills (United Kingdom)|Department for Education and Skills]].

Healey was promoted in 2002 to the position of [[Secretary to the Treasury#Economic Secretaries to the Treasury, 1947-present|Economic Secretary to the Treasury]] and nominally again following the [[United Kingdom general election, 2005|2005 general election]] when he took the role of [[Financial Secretary to the Treasury]].

Healey's responsibilities included government statistics, (including the [[Office for National Statistics]] which is to become an independent body after passage of the current bill he has been steering through parliament), along with implementation of the government's 10 year strategy for science and innovation, which directs spending of around £5 billion a year. Inter alia, this has led to the controversial abolition of the [[Research Assessment Exercise]]. However, he has never made a speech on this area of responsibility and did not answer questions about it.

On 29 June 2007, he was moved to the [[Department for Communities and Local Government]] as a result of a government reshuffle. His position as Financial Secretary was filled by [[Jane Kennedy (politician)|Jane Kennedy]]. Shortly after his appointment he was announced as the Floods Recovery Minister, with responsibility for assisting the recovery from recent [[Summer 2007 United Kingdom floods|widespread flooding]] across the United Kingdom. It was announced he would be appointed to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] in October 2008.

In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, he was appointed Minister of State (Housing), replacing [[Margaret Beckett]] who had resigned. While Minister of State for Housing and Planning he was critised for suggesting that more people are renting rather than buying their own homes was a good thing.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Healey, housing minister, attacked for lauding fall in ownership|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/6789476/John-Healey-housing-minister-attacked-for-lauding-fall-in-ownership.html|website=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|accessdate=13 December 2017}}</ref>


Healey has held the following positions:
Healey has held the following positions:
*November 1999-June 2001 - Parliamentary Private Secretary to Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer
*November 1999-June 2001 - Parliamentary Private Secretary to Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer
*June 2001-May 2002 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Skills
*June 2001-May 2002 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Skills
*May 2002-May 2005 - [[Economic Secretary to the Treasury]]
*May 2002-May 2005 - Economic Secretary to the Treasury
*May 2005-June 2007 - [[Financial Secretary to the Treasury]]
*May 2005-June 2007 - Financial Secretary to the Treasury
*June 2007-June 2009 - Minister of State for Local Government
*June 2007-June 2009 - Minister of State for Local Government
*July 2007-June 2009 - Minister for Flood Recovery
*July 2007-June 2009 - Minister for Flood Recovery
Line 114: Line 103:


===In opposition===
===In opposition===
Healey came second in the election for the shadow cabinet in 2010, and was appointed shadow health secretary.
Healey came second in the election for the shadow cabinet in 2010, and was appointed shadow health secretary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11494915|title=Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet|date=8 October 2013|publisher=|via=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Healey took the decision to stand down from the Shadow Cabinet in 2011 in order to spend more time with his family.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/oct/06/ed-miliband-labour-first-reshuffle|title=Ed Miliband to bring former ministers into shadow cabinet in reshuffle|first=Allegra|last=Stratton|date=7 October 2011|website=the Guardian}}</ref>


==Views==
==Views==
Healey maintains affordable housing should be a right, not a privilege. Healey wrote, "The housing market is broken, and, after eight long years it is clear that current Conservative housing policy is failing to fix it. Ministers talk big about housebuilding targets to be reached some time in the next decade. But what new homes we build, and who they’re for, matter just as much as how many we build. To make housing more affordable, we need to build more affordable homes, and to hardwire housing affordability through the system, from planning to funding to delivery. The public know this: eight in 10 people think ministers should be doing more to get affordable housing built. (...) We will build for those who need it, including the very poorest and most vulnerable, with a big boost to new social rented homes. And we will also build Labour’s new affordable homes for those in work on ordinary incomes who are priced out of the housing market and being failed by housing policy. This is the “just coping” class in Britain today, who do the jobs we all rely on – IT workers, HGV drivers, joiners, warehouse managers, lab technicians, nurses, teaching assistants, call centre supervisors, shop staff."<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/19/britain-housing-market-broken-labour-council-houses Britain’s housing market is broken. Here’s how Labour will fix it] ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref>
Healey maintains affordable housing should be a right, not a privilege. Healey wrote, "The housing market is broken, and, after eight long years it is clear that current Conservative housing policy is failing to fix it. Ministers talk big about housebuilding targets to be reached some time in the next decade. But what new homes we build, and who they’re for, matter just as much as how many we build. To make housing more affordable, we need to build more affordable homes, and to hardwire housing affordability through the system, from planning to funding to delivery. The public know this: eight in 10 people think ministers should be doing more to get affordable housing built. We will build for those who need it, including the very poorest and most vulnerable, with a big boost to new social rented homes. And we will also build Labour’s new affordable homes for those in work on ordinary incomes who are priced out of the housing market and being failed by housing policy. This is the “just coping” class in Britain today, who do the jobs we all rely on – IT workers, HGV drivers, joiners, warehouse managers, lab technicians, nurses, teaching assistants, call centre supervisors, shop staff."

==Personal life==
Healey married Jackie Bate on 25 October 1993 in [[Lambeth]] and they have one son. He opposes the [[minimum wage]] being set at a different level for young people and he campaigns for medals to be awarded to [[Suez Canal#Suez Canal Zone|Suez Canal Zone]] veterans. He is a member of [[Amnesty International]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.johnhealeymp.co.uk John Healey MP] ''official constituency website''
*{{UK MP links | parliament = john-healey/400 | hansard = mr-john-healey | hansardcurr = 909 | guardian = 2333/john-healey | publicwhip = John_Healey | theywork = john_healey | record = John-Healey/Wentworth-and-Dearne/299 | bbc = 25567.stm | journalisted = john-healey }}

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{{Brown Cabinet}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Healey, John}}
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People educated at St Peter's School, York]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Academics of the Open University]]
[[Category:Housing ministers]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People from Wakefield]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2001–05]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2005–10]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2010–15]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2015–17]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2017–]]

Revision as of 22:54, 3 June 2018


The Right Honourable
John Healey
MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Housing
Assumed office
7 October 2016
Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by Position established
Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning
In office
13 September 2015 – 27 June 2016
Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by Roberta Blackman-Woods
Succeeded by Andy Slaughter (Department for Communities and Local Government
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
In office
8 October 2010 – 6 October 2011
Leader Edward Miliband
Preceded by Andy Burnham
Succeeded by Andy Burnham
Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government
In office
11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader Harriet Harman (Acting)
Edward Miliband
Preceded by Grant Shapps
Succeeded by Alison Seabeck
Minister of State for Housing and Planning
In office
5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Preceded by Margaret Beckett
Succeeded by Grant Shapps (Housing and Local Government)
Minister of State for Local Government
In office
28 June 2007 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Preceded by Phil Woolas
Succeeded by Rosie Winterton
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office
6 May 2005 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister Tony Blair
Preceded by Stephen Timms
Succeeded by Jane Kennedy
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office
15 December 2002 – 6 May 2005
Prime Minister Tony Blair
Preceded by Ruth Kelly
Succeeded by Ivan Lewis
Member of Parliament
for Wentworth and Dearne
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded by Peter Hardy
Majority 14,803 (33.7%)
Personal details
Born (1960-02-13) 13 February 1960 (age 64)
Website Official website


John Healey (born 13 February 1960) has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wentworth and Dearne since 1997, and Minister of State for Housing. In 2010 he was elected to the shadow cabinet and appointed shadow health secretary. He stood down from the role in October 2011 and was succeeded by Andy Burnham. He is currently Shadow Secretary of State for Housing.

Paliamentary Career

Healey served as a member of the education and employment select committee from 1997 until he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in 1999. He was given an executive position following the 2001 general election in an appointment as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State] for the Department for Education and Skills.

Healey was promoted in 2002 to the position of Economic Secretary to the Treasury and nominally again following the 2005 general election when he took the role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Healey's responsibilities included government statistics, (including the Office for National Statistics which is to become an independent body after passage of the current bill he has been steering through parliament), along with implementation of the government's 10 year strategy for science and innovation, which directs spending of around £5 billion a year. Inter alia, this has led to the controversial abolition of the Research Assessment Exercise. However, he has never made a speech on this area of responsibility and did not answer questions about it.

On 29 June 2007, he was moved to the Department for Communities and Local Government as a result of a government reshuffle. His position as Financial Secretary was filled by Jane Kennedy. Shortly after his appointment he was announced as the Floods Recovery Minister, with responsibility for assisting the recovery from recent widespread flooding across the United Kingdom. It was announced he would be appointed to the Privy Council in October 2008.

In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, he was appointed Minister of State (Housing), replacing Margaret Beckett who had resigned. While Minister of State for Housing and Planning he was critised for suggesting that more people are renting rather than buying their own homes was a good thing.

Healey has held the following positions:

  • November 1999-June 2001 - Parliamentary Private Secretary to Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • June 2001-May 2002 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Skills
  • May 2002-May 2005 - Economic Secretary to the Treasury
  • May 2005-June 2007 - Financial Secretary to the Treasury
  • June 2007-June 2009 - Minister of State for Local Government
  • July 2007-June 2009 - Minister for Flood Recovery
  • June 2009–May 2010 - Minister of State for Housing
  • May 2010-October 2010 - Shadow Minister of State for Housing
  • October 2010–October 2011 - Shadow Secretary of State for Health

In opposition

Healey came second in the election for the shadow cabinet in 2010, and was appointed shadow health secretary.

Views

Healey maintains affordable housing should be a right, not a privilege. Healey wrote, "The housing market is broken, and, after eight long years it is clear that current Conservative housing policy is failing to fix it. Ministers talk big about housebuilding targets to be reached some time in the next decade. But what new homes we build, and who they’re for, matter just as much as how many we build. To make housing more affordable, we need to build more affordable homes, and to hardwire housing affordability through the system, from planning to funding to delivery. The public know this: eight in 10 people think ministers should be doing more to get affordable housing built. We will build for those who need it, including the very poorest and most vulnerable, with a big boost to new social rented homes. And we will also build Labour’s new affordable homes for those in work on ordinary incomes who are priced out of the housing market and being failed by housing policy. This is the “just coping” class in Britain today, who do the jobs we all rely on – IT workers, HGV drivers, joiners, warehouse managers, lab technicians, nurses, teaching assistants, call centre supervisors, shop staff."

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