Dame Diana Johnson DBE appointed Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire

Dame Diana was re-elected as the MP for Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham in July this year with a majority of more than 10,000 votes, a role which she has fulfilled since 2005. Going forward, fire policy and operations will now be an essential element of the new Minister of State’s responsibilities.

Hull’s first-ever female MP, Dame Diana gained an LLB in Law from Queen Mary University of London before becoming a barrister in 1991. From 1999 through until 2005, Dame Diana served as a Barrister in Law at the Paddington Law Centre.

Before entering Parliament, Dame Diana had served as a local councillor and also as a non-executive director in the NHS.

Johnson was a councillor in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets from 1994 until 2002, serving as chair of social services. She became a member of the London Assembly on 1 March 2003 following the resignation of Trevor Phillips, but chose not to stand for re-election in 2004.

Johnson was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in Her Majesty The Queen’s 2020 New Year Honours List for charitable and political service, at least in part for her campaigning on contaminated blood transfusions. She was appointed to the Privy Council in March 2021.

Home Affairs Select Committee

Dame Diana chaired the Home Affairs Committee until Parliament was dissolved for the General election. Through time, Dame Diana has also served on the Liaison Committee in Parliament as well as the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. Previously, Dame Diana was a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

Dame Diana plays an active role on the British American Parliamentary Group and has chaired several cross-party Parliamentary groups, including those focused on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood, Friends of the University of Hull, Human Rights, Left Behind Neighbourhoods, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

Dame Diana was named Backbencher of the Year in 2018 for her work to secure a Public Inquiry into the NHS contaminated blood scandal.

Dame Diana is Patron of the Hull and East Riding RSPCA, the National Civilian WW2 Memorial Trust and also Hull and East Riding Breast Friends, itself a local breast cancer charity.

Pre-General Election pledge

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) had already welcomed a pre-General Election commitment from the Labour Party to transform the Fire and Rescue Service by giving firefighters and their Trade Union a voice in how it’s run.

Prior to 4 July, (then) Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper set out Labour’s plan to develop a national structure designed to inform policy and establish national standards in the Fire and Rescue Service.

Labour will now work with Trade Unions and other stakeholders on the structure, which will aim to raise standards on key issues like Health and Safety and Fire and Rescue Service standards in general.

Since 2010, the Fire and Rescue Service has lost one-in-five firefighter jobs and 30% of its central Government funding. The average response time for the first fire appliance to arrive on scene has now risen to nine minutes and 12 seconds in England, which is the worst on record.