John Healey (politician)

John Healey was born in Wakefield and was educated at the Lady Lumley's School in Pickering before attending the independent St Peter's School, York sixth form college. Healey studied Social and Political Science at Christ's College, Cambridge where he received a 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 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. He was also a tutor at the Open University Business School.

Healey's first venture into Parliamentary politics was an unsuccessful attempt to gain the Ryedale seat at the 1992 general election. As the Labour candidate, Healey finished in third place, some 30,076 votes behind the sitting Conservative John Greenway.

Selection

Although John Healey had not been the first choice as the Labour candidate in 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, Alan Howarth, who had crossed the floor and joined the Labour Party in 1995.

The other prospective candidates were journalist Yvette Cooper who went on to be selected for Pontefract and Castleford and Rotherham Cllrs. Ken Wyatt and Cllr. Roger Stone. Finally Healey was chosen for this very safe Labour seat.

At the 1997 general election, Healey successfully contested the seat of Wentworth, which had become available following the retirement of the Labour MP 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 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.

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. Healey took the decision to stand down from the Shadow Cabinet in 2011 in order to spend more time with his family.

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 Zone veterans. He is a member of Amnesty International.