John Healey
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John Healey (born 13 February 1960) is the British Financial Secretary to the Treasury. He is the Labour Member of Parliament for Wentworth.
[edit] Background
John Healey was born in Wakefield and was educated at the Lady Lumley's Comprehensive School in Pickering and at St Peter's School, York. Healey attended Christ's College, Cambridge where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree 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.
[edit] Political career
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.
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.
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 and his 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 since when he has served as the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
Healey's responsibilities include 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 does not answer questions about it.
[edit] Selection controversy
Healey had not been the first choice as the Labour candidate in Wentworth for the 1997 General Election. Initially 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 local Labour party rejected his nomination and Howarth was later selected to contest the safe seat of Newport East in South Wales.
The second prospective candidate was journalist Yvette Cooper who went on to be selected for Pontefract and Castleford. Finally Healey was chosen for this very safe Labour seat.
[edit] Personal life
Healey has been married to Jackie Bate since 1993 and they have a son, Alex. 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.
[edit] External links
- John Healey official site
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: John Healey MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - John Healey MP
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Peter Hardy |
Member of Parliament for Wentworth 1997 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Stephen Timms |
Financial Secretary to the Treasury 2005— |
Succeeded by Current Incumbent |
| Preceded by Ruth Kelly |
Economic Secretary to the Treasury 2002–2005 |
Succeeded by Ivan Lewis |
