Diana Johnson MP for Hull North

Diana was born and brought up in the North West of England. After studying Law at University, she
was called to the Bar in 1991.  For many years, she worked for community law centres, specialising in welfare and employment law.  She has also worked as a National Officer for a civil service trade union.

She was a local authority councillor from 1994 to 2002, chairing the Social Services Committee for several years. In 2003, she became a London-wide Assembly member on the Greater London Authority.

For many years she has been very involved in the NHS and was a visiting legal member of the Mental Health Act Commission making sure that people detained under the mental Health Act 1983 were legally and safely detained in psychiatric units.  She has also been a Non-Executive Director in a Primary Care Trust and at an Acute District General Hospital.

On 5 May 2005 she was elected as Member of Parliament for Hull North – and Hull’s first female MP. She was re-elected in May 2010.

Her particular areas of interest as the MP for Hull North are tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, raising education standards in our secondary schools, improving the public health of the city and the overall economic regeneration of Hull.

At Westminster, she served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Stephen Timms MP between November 2005 and June 2007. Between 29 June 2007 and 8 June 2009 she was an Assistant Whip in the Government.

Since 9 June 2009 to May 2010 she served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). From May 2010 to October 2010 she was a Labour Shadow Health Minister and since October 2010 she has been a Shadow Home Office Minister with responsibility for policing policy.