Kim Johnson
MP
Member of Parliament
for Liverpool Riverside
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byLouise Ellman
Majority37,043 (70.2%)
Personal details
Born
Kim Marie Johnson

(1966-08-25) 25 August 1966
Political partyLabour
Other political
affiliations		Socialist Campaign Group (2019–present)

Kim Marie Johnson[1] (born 25 August 1966) is a British Labour Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Riverside since the 2019 general election.[2][3][4]

Early life and career

Kim is the daughter of Joseph Johnson and Kathleen Johnson. She has a Diploma in Youth and Community Work, a BA in Social Studies, and a Postgraduate Certificate.[5]

Since 2015, Johnson has been the Chairperson of Squash Liverpool, a community interest company. In 2020, she became a patron of Mandela8.[5]

Prior to becoming an MP, Johnson was a Unison shop steward. She held a role of creative diversity manager in the Capital of Culture bid team, representing the longest established black community in the country.[6]

Parliamentary career

On 4 November 2019, Johnson was selected as Labour's candidate for Liverpool Riverside by a panel made up of national, regional and local party representatives.[7] She replaced Dame Louise Ellman in that role after the latter was forced to leave the party due to anti-Semitism.[8] She was elected at the 2019 general election, winning 41,170 votes, representing 78.0% of the vote.[9] She sits on the Women and Equalities Committee, Education Committee and Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art.[10] She is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus.

On 15 October 2020, Johnson resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Angela Rayner to vote against the proposed Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill, disagreeing with the Labour whip to abstain.[11]

On 10 May 2021, Johnson publicly described the shadow cabinet reshuffle; specifically Keir Starmer's treatment of Angela Rayner as a "despicable act of cowardice".[12] She again criticised the leadership after Starmer wrote an article for The Sun, a newspaper many in her Liverpool constituency had been boycotting after its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster.[13]

In June 2022, Johnson accused Merseyside Police of being "institutionally racist" after officers carried out an armed stop and search of two black men in Liverpool.[14]

In February 2023, while asking a question at Prime Minister's Questions, Johnson described the Israeli government as “fascist”. A spokesperson for the Labour Party described Johnson's comments as "completely unacceptable". Later the same day, Johnson raised a point of order in the House of Commons and apologised “unreservedly” for her language.[15]

However, she would later be criticised for similar remarks during a session of a parliamentary committee where she denied the anti-Semitic connotations of both Hamas and the pro-Palestine protests, particularly those who continued to use the phrase “from the river to the sea”, a phrase which has sparked outrage amongst the media and political class in Israel allied countries.[16]

Personal life

Johnson has a son and daughter.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Members Sworn". Hansard.parliament.uk. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "Liverpool Riverside gets the city's first ever black MP". ITV. 13 December 2019.
  3. ↑ Colchester, Max (3 August 2020). "In a City Built on the Slave Trade, Britain's Oldest Black Community Seeks a Reckoning". The Wall Street Journal. Kim Johnson last year became Liverpool's first Black lawmaker.
  4. ↑ Johnson, Kim (27 March 2020). ""We are a resilient city and we will always fight back" – Kim Johnson's maiden speech". LabourList. I am immensely proud to have been elected as the first black MP for Liverpool.
  5. 1 2 3 "Johnson, Kim Marie, MP (Lab) Liverpool Riverside, since 2019". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2020. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u293925. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "Kim Johnson - latest news and information on the Labour Party candidate for Riverside". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Rodgers, Sienna (4 November 2019). "Kim Johnson chosen to replace Louise Ellman in Liverpool Riverside". LabourList. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "MP Louise Ellman quits Labour Party". BBC News. 16 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  9. ↑ "Liverpool Riverside Parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  10. ↑ "Parliamentary Career for Kim Johnson MP". n.d. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  11. ↑ Sabbagh, Dan; Stewart, Heather (15 October 2020). "Two Labour frontbenchers quit over failure to oppose MI5 bill". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  12. ↑ "Labour reshuffle: Anneliese Dodds out in Starmer's post-election reshuffle". BBC News. 10 May 2021.
  13. ↑ "MP calls for Labour leader to explain Sun article to Hillsborough families". BBC News. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  14. ↑ "Liverpool MP condemns armed stop and search of two black men". BBC News. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  15. ↑ "Keir Starmer Slams Labour MP Kim Johnson Who Called Israeli Government 'Fascist'". HuffPost UK. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  16. ↑ Parliamentary Committee Hearing, House of Commons (6 December 2023). "6 December 2023 - Policing of protests". Parliament TV.
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