Jo Johnson

Joseph Edmund Johnson (born 23 December 1971) is a Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Orpington since the general election in May 2010. From April 2013 to May 2015, he was the Head of the Number 10 Policy Unit, and became Minister of State for the Cabinet Office in July 2014. Following the May 2015 general election, he became the Minister for Universities and Science.

Family

Johnson is the youngest of four children born to former Conservative MEP Stanley Johnson and artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl (née Fawcett), the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, a prominent barrister and president of the European Commission of Human Rights.

He is the younger brother of Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary and the former Mayor of London; Rachel, a writer and journalist; and Leo, an entrepreneur and filmmaker.

Education

He began his schooling in Brussels, at the European School in Uccle, before attending The Hall School in Hampstead, London, Ashdown House School in East Sussex, and then Eton College. In 1991, he went to Balliol College, Oxford to read Modern History. He was a Scholar at Balliol, edited Isis, the Oxford University student magazine, and was awarded a First Class degree in both Honour Moderations (June 1992) and Finals (Honour School, June 1994). While at Oxford, he was a member of the Bullingdon Club together with Harry Mount, Nat Rothschild and George Osborne, with whom he remains a close friend.

A fluent French speaker, he did postgraduate study in mainland Europe and has degrees from two further European universities, gaining an MBA from INSEAD in 2000 and a licence spéciale with distinction in 1995 from the Institut d'études européennes at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he was a Wiener-Anspach Fellow.

Johnson joined the Financial Times in 1997, after working as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank and had two foreign postings, as Paris correspondent (2001–05), and then as South Asia Bureau Chief based in New Delhi (2005–08).

Johnson then became an Associate Editor of the Financial Times and Head of the Lex Column, one of the most influential positions in British financial journalism. Previous 'Heads of Lex' include Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Martin Taylor, former chief executive of Barclays Bank, and Richard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry. Johnson left the Lex column in April 2010.

In April 2009, Johnson was named Foreign Journalist of the Year (Print) in India's leading media awards, the Indian Express Excellence in Journalism Awards. His books include the co-authored The Man Who Tried To Buy the World (Penguin, 2003), about the French businessman Jean-Marie Messier which was published in France as Une faillite française by Albin Michel in 2002.

A regular commentator on radio and television, he frequently speaks in public on the rise of India and the new world order, as well as on the UK political economy and financial affairs.

He has received awards from a range of organisations, including most recently the Foreign Press Association, the Society of Publishers in Asia and The Indian Express's 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards.

Most recently he has co-edited, with Dr Rajiv Kumar (Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) Reconnecting Britain and India: Ideas for an Enhanced Partnership (Academic Foundation 2011).

On 12 December 2009, Johnson was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Orpington from a shortlist of six contenders. He won the seat, tripling the Conservative majority to over 17,000.

Between May 2010 and September 2012, Johnson sat on the Public Accounts Committee, a select committee of the House of Commons, whose members are elected by other MPs to scrutinise government expenditures to ensure they are effective and represent value for money.

Between January 2012 and September 2012 Johnson served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mark Prisk, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise. He was appointed as an Assistant Government Whip in September 2012.

On 25 April 2013, he was appointed by David Cameron as Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office (in addition to his role as an Assistant Government Whip) to help develop the next election's 2015 Tory manifesto with Minister for Policy Oliver Letwin. As a junior Cabinet Office minister, he headed the Policy Unit in the Prime Minister's Office, and was assisted in this role by part-time adviser Steve Hilton and a newly created Conservative Parliamentary Advisory Board consisting of Tory MPs.

His appointment to head up the policy unit was seen as somewhat surprising as he was perceived as being more pro-European and left-leaning than most Conservatives.

On 20 June 2013, he was reselected as the Conservative candidate for Orpington at the 2015 General Election. He was re-elected with a 57% share of the vote.

Minister for Universities and Science

On 11 May 2015, it was announced that Johnson had been appointed Minister for Universities and Science at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Writing about Johnson’s appointment for Times Higher Education, John Morgan noted: "Mr Johnson’s reputation as a pro-European is likely to please vice-chancellors, many of whom are concerned by the Tories’ pledge to hold an in-out referendum on EU membership by 2017. Universities UK has pointed out that British higher education institutions benefit from around £1.2 billion in European research funding each year."

In 2016, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) asked the public to vote on names for a new polar research ship. The online poll was active from 17 March to 16 April 2016 with the name "Boaty McBoatface" garnering 124,109 votes, roughly four times more than the runner up "Poppy Mai". Despite huge popular demand, Johnson oversaw the decision to name the vessel "RRS Sir David Attenborough", causing Guardian columnist, Stuart Heritage, to lament, "tyrants have crushed the people's will".

Johnson lives in London with his wife, Amelia Gentleman, a journalist for The Guardian, the daughter of artist and designer David Gentleman. They have two children.