Stanley Johnson

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Stanley Patrick Johnson (born 18 August 1940 in Cornwall) is a British politician including being a Conservative MEP from 1979 to 1984, noted advocate of population control, and father of Boris Johnson. He is the grandson of the last interior minister of the Imperial Turkish government, Ali Kemal. Kemal signed the arrest warrant for Kemal Atatürk, now regarded as the founder of modern Turkey. Kemal was assassinated by backers of Atatürk; he was at a barber's shop in Izmit when he was attacked by a mob, beaten to death, and stuck to a tree. After this event, Stanley's father sought asylum in England.

Stanley Johnson married the painter Charlotte (nee Fawcett, later Wahl) and with her had four children, Boris, Rachel, Leo, and Jo. He later married Jennifer Kidd and had two more children, Julia and Maximilian.

While still an undergraduate studying Classics at Exeter College, Oxford he took part in the Marco Polo Expedition with Tim Severin and Michael de Larrabeiti, travelling on a motorcycle from Oxford to Venice and on to India and Afghanistan.

He has previously worked at the World Bank, has a great interest in the environment and was the Head of Prevention of Pollution Division at the European Commission from 1973 - 1979. He is a trustee of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and a board member of Plantlife International. In 1983 he received the RSPCA Richard Martin Award for Outstanding Services to animal welfare and in 1984 he received the Greenpeace Award for Outstanding Services to the Environment.

He has published a number of books dealing with environmental issues and nine novels, including The Commissioner which was made into a film starring John Hurt.

He attempted a political comeback in the United Kingdom general election, 2005 when he stood for the Conservative Party in the constituency of Teignbridge. He came second behind Richard Younger-Ross of the Liberal Democrats. If he had won he would have become the first father to follow his son into Parliament.

He lives in a pink house in Primrose Hill, London, and made an appearance on Have I Got News For You on May 7, 2004.

Since May 26, 2005, he has written a weekly column for the G2 section of The Guardian. He occasionally hosts the late night discussion programme The Last Word on Channel 4's More4 channel.

He attended Sherborne School, Dorset.

[edit] Works

• Icecap (1999, Cameron May) ISBN 1-874698-67-8
• The Politics of Population: Cairo, 1994 (1995, Earthscan) ISBN 1-85383-297-9
• The Environmental Policy of the European Communities (1995, Kluwer Law International) ISBN 90-411-0862-9
• World Population - Turning the Tide (1994, Kluwer Law International) ISBN 1-85966-046-0
• Dragon River (1989, Frederick Muller) ISBN 0-09-173526-2
• The Commissioner (1987, Century) ISBN 0-7126-1587-3
• Antarctica: The Last Great Wilderness (1985, Weidenfeld & N) ISBN 0-297-78676-8
• Tunnel (1984, Heinemann) ISBN 0-434-37705-8
• The Marburg Virus (1982, Heinemann) ISBN 0-434-37704-X
• The Doomsday Deposit (1979, EP Dutton) ISBN 0-525-09468-7
• Pollution Control Policy of the EEC (1978, Graham & Trotman) ISBN 0-86010-136-3
• The Urbane Guerilla (1975, Macmillan) ISBN 0-333-17679-0
• The Politics of Environment (1973, T Stacey) ISBN 0-85468-298-8
• The Population Problem (1973, David & C) ISBN 0-7153-6282-8
• The Green Revolution (1972, Hamilton) ISBN 0-241-02102-2
• Life without Birth: A Journey Through the Third World in Search of the Population Explosion (1970, Heinemann) ISBN 0-434-37702-3
• Panther Jones for President (1968, Heinemann) ISBN 0-434-37701-5
• Gold Drain (1967, Heinemann) ISBN B0000CNKG6

[edit] External links

• Stanley Johnson campaign site
• Channel 4 Election Weblogs - Stanley Johnson
• The Guardian ruined my political career! Stanley Johnson's column May 26, 2005