Darren Johnson

Johnson was born in Southport, Lancashire, and at school, studied A-Levels in English, Theatre Studies and Journalistic Studies. Johnson admitted to his "shame" that his first foray into politics was standing in a school mock election in 1979 as a Conservative Party candidate.

He lived in Hull for three years before moving with a friend to Wembley in London in 1990. He also lived in Finsbury Park and Golders Green before settling in Lewisham. His first job in London was "in accounts with an advertising firm in Goodge Street". He took a degree at Goldsmiths College (part of the University of London) in 1994, eventually gaining a first-class BA (hons.) degree in Politics and Economics.{{cite web|url=http://www.greenparty.org.uk/individual/83 |title=Darren Johnson's Green Party Biography |publisher=Greenparty.org.uk |access-date=7 June 2010}} He apparently "started to work on his PhD until the London Assembly distracted him".{{Cite web|url=https://knittingcircle.org.uk/page-not-found/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030191036/http://www.knittingcircle.org.uk/darrenjohnson.html|url-status=dead|title=Knitting Circle Darren Johnson|archivedate=30 October 2007|website=knittingcircle.org.uk}} He was also once a "paid consultant to Friends of the Earth".{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/11/99/battle_for_london/candidates/d_johnson.stm |title=Battle for London | Candidates | Darren Johnson |publisher=BBC News |access-date=7 June 2010}}

Johnson joined the Green Party in 1987 at the age of 20 "after the Chernobyl Disaster", which "had a big impact" on him.{{cite web|url=http://www.greenworld.org.uk/page55/page70/page68/page68.html |title=Green World Interview |publisher=Greenworld.org.uk |access-date=7 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718154029/http://www.greenworld.org.uk/page55/page70/page68/page68.html |archive-date=18 July 2011 |df=dmy }} He was Male Principal Speaker of the party in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/21 |title=Green Party News Johnson's final address to conference |publisher=Greenparty.org.uk |date=17 March 2002 |access-date=7 June 2010}}

According to the Knitting Circle (a website with "resources on lesbian and gay issues"), his campaigning experience includes infiltrating "the military base at Aldershot dressed as Ivan the Terrible during an arms fair. He was saluted by the guards as he drove through the gates in a large limousine with tinted windows. He tried to buy arms with Monopoly money".

In 2000, Johnson was elected to the inaugural London Assembly as part of a three-strong Green Group, including Jenny Jones AM and Victor Anderson (who resigned in March 2003 and was replaced by Noel Lynch for the remainder of the term). The 2004 elections would see the Greens lose the seat held by Lynch, leaving Johnson and Jones as the two remaining members of the Green Group. Both won re-election in the 2008 election, when the Greens held on to their two seats. He served as Deputy Chair of the Assembly 2008–09 and again in 2012–13 and was elected Chair of the Assembly in May 2009 and again in 2013.{{cite web | url=https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/darren-johnson | title=Darren Johnson | London City Hall | date=3 May 2012 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/profile/darren-johnson |title=London Assembly Biography |publisher=London.gov.uk |access-date=7 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608155929/http://www.london.gov.uk/profile/darren-johnson |archive-date=8 June 2010 |df=dmy }}

As a London Assembly Member, Johnson was Chair of the Housing Committee and a member of the Business Management and Administration Committee, Budget and Performance Committee and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA). Johnson issued a report on the sustainability measures involved in planning for London's hosting of the Olympics in 2012,[http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/johnsond/docs/right-track-2012.pdf "On the Right Track?" Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719202153/http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/johnsond/docs/right-track-2012.pdf |date=19 July 2011 }}, Darren Johnson, 2009. and also chaired an inquiry on nuclear waste trains for the London Assembly.[http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/environment/nuc_waste.rtf Nuclear Waste Trains Investigative Committee Scrutiny Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719202205/http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/environment/nuc_waste.rtf |date=19 July 2011 }} 2001. He was previously Chair of the Environment Committee (between 2004/9 and 2010/11). The committee produced a number of reports,{{cite web |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/publications/environment |title=London Assembly Environment Committee |publisher=London.gov.uk |access-date=7 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530102257/http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/publications/environment |archive-date=30 May 2010 |df=dmy }}

including investigations into the loss of street trees,[http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/publications/environment/chainsaw-massacre-review-londons-street-trees-0 "Chainsaw Massacre: A review of London's street trees" Report]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Environment Committee, 2007. and the effects of paving over front gardens in the city.[http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/publications/environment/crazy-paving-environmental-importance-london%E2%80%99s-front-gardens "Crazy Paving: The environmental importance of London's front gardens" Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604164303/http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/publications/environment/crazy-paving-environmental-importance-london%E2%80%99s-front-gardens |date=4 June 2011 }}, Environment Committee, 2005. He also proposed a same-sex partnership registration scheme for London during the first Mayor's Question Time in 2000, which was later established in 2001 by Mayor Ken Livingstone as the London Partnership Register.{{cite web |date=2014 |title=What has the Green Party in Lambeth and London ever done for me? |url=http://www.greenparty.org.uk/localsites/lambeth/lambeth-green-councillors-key-successes.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521182553/https://lambeth.greenparty.org.uk/lambeth-green-councillors-key-successes.html |archive-date=2019-05-21 |access-date=2022-12-31 |publisher=Lambeth Green Party}} Along with his long-standing colleague Jenny Jones, he stood down at the 2016 election.{{cite web|url=https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2015/06/29/green-party%E2%80%99s-jenny-jones-and-darren-johnson-to-step-down-from-london-assembly-after-16-years/ |title=Green Party's Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson to step-down from London Assembly after 16 years |publisher=Green Party |date=29 June 2015 |access-date=15 August 2016}}

In the 2002 local elections, Johnson was elected as a councillor for the Brockley ward in the London Borough of Lewisham, the Greens' first councillor in Lewisham, polling 1026 votes and coming top in the ward.{{cite web|url=http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/93FF44F2-1ECF-4746-8263-17503BDF454A/0/LocalResults2002.pdf |title=Lewisham Council Election Results 2002 |access-date=7 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608215515/http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/93FF44F2-1ECF-4746-8263-17503BDF454A/0/LocalResults2002.pdf |archive-date=8 June 2011 |df=dmy }} He was re-elected in 2006, when the Greens gained a further five seats in Lewisham. He came top of the ward again, polling 1583 votes.{{Cite web|url=https://lewisham.gov.uk/mayorandcouncil/elections|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925183307/http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/DemocracyAndElections/ElectionCountsAndResults/Brockley.htm|url-status=dead|title=Elections and voting|archivedate=25 September 2006|website=Lewisham Council}} In 2010, he was the only Green councillor in Lewisham to be re-elected and served until 2014 when he did not seek re-election.

In his time as a councillor, Johnson was successful in getting the council to adopt a Fair Trade policy. He opposed the closure of Ladywell Leisure Centre and put forward alternative sites for a new school. He also successfully campaigned for a new pedestrian crossing on Brockley Road, secured improvements to the traffic calming scheme and managed to halt evictions at St Norberts Allotments.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bijutsu.co.uk/LGP/html/darren.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411163558/http://www.bijutsu.co.uk/LGP/html/darren.htm|url-status=dead|title=Lewisham Green Party|archivedate=11 April 2008|website=www.bijutsu.co.uk}} In addition, he served as a member of Lewisham 's Housing Select Committee, Sustainable Development Select Committee, Council Urgency Committee, Elections Committee, Licensing (Supplementary) Committee, Licensing Committee, Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust. He has represented Lewisham on the Local Government Association General Assembly.{{cite web |url=http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/ElectedRepresentatives/Councillors/DarrenJohnson/default.htm |title=Darren Johnson's Lewisham Council Biography |publisher=Lewisham.gov.uk |date=4 May 2002 |access-date=7 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608214510/http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/ElectedRepresentatives/Councillors/DarrenJohnson/default.htm |archive-date=8 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Johnson was the Green Party's candidate for Mayor of London in 2000 and 2004. In the 2000 election, he won 2.2% of first preference votes (38,121 votes), taking sixth place. He also came third in unallocated second preference votes with 192,764-second preferences (13.6%). In the 2004 election, he received 57,331 votes in the first round (2.9%) taking seventh place, and took 10.9% of unallocated second preferences (208,686).

Johnson chose not to seek selection as mayoral candidate for a third time. On 12 March 2007, the London Green Party voted to select Siân Berry as their mayoral candidate in the 2008 mayoral election, replacing Johnson.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6441519.stm |title=Politics | Berry is Green mayoral candidate |publisher=BBC News |date=12 March 2007 |access-date=7 June 2010}} The winner in this election was Boris Johnson.

Having fought Brent South in 1992, Johnson was the Green Party's parliamentary candidate in the Lewisham Deptford constituency in 2001, 2005 and 2010. He came fourth in the constituency in the 2001 general election, polling 1,901 votes (6.5%). In the 2005 general election, Johnson, backed by the Fire Brigades Union (after being the only London Assembly member to vote against cuts in the brigade), received 11.1% of the votes (3,367 votes), coming fourth. In the 2010 general election he came fourth again, but his vote slipped back to 2,772 (6.7%).

On 28 May 2024, Johnson revealed he had been suspended by the Green Party, following social media posts criticising the Green Party's response to the Cass Review.{{Cite tweet |number=1795504603259085265 |user=DarrenJohnson66 |title=Looks like I've been suspended from the Green Party. |first=Darren |last=Johnson |author-link=Darren Johnson |date=28 May 2024 |access-date=21 November 2024}}{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Darren |date=2024-05-30 |title=I stood up to the Greens' trans ideology, then they kicked me out |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/30/the-greens-are-putting-trans-ahead-of-childrens-health/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}} In December 2024 he resigned from the Green Party after 37 years' membership.{{Cite tweet |number=1867848720211226964 |user=DarrenJohnson66 |title=My resignation from the Green Party. After 37 years the deed is done. I decided that in all honesty, even if my suspension was lifted, I could no longer remain a member following the behaviour of Green MPs this week. |date=2024-12-14}}

Johnson, who is gay, lives in St Leonards, East Sussex. Johnson is a keen supporter of live music (rock and folk) and writes a live review blog.{{cite web|url=http://darrensmusicblog.com/ |title=Darren's music blog |publisher=Darrensmusicblog.com |date=20 June 2016 |access-date=15 August 2016}} His book The Sweet in the 1970s was published by Sonicbond Publishing{{Cite web|url=https://www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk/|title=Sonicbond Publishing - Books for Music Fans|website=Sonicbond Publishing}} on 30 July 2021. This was followed by a second book Suzi Quatro in the 1970s published by the same publisher in July 2022; and a third book Slade in the 1970s published in May 2023.

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.greenparty.org.uk/individual/83 Green Party biography]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928010618/http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/ElectedRepresentatives/Councillors/DarrenJohnson/default.htm Lewisham Council contact page]
• [http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/news.php?slug=darren-johnson-interview&article_id=13 2002 interview with MayorWatch]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3746561.stm 2004 interview with the BBC]
• [http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/articles/983_darren_johnson.htm 2004 interview with SomethingJewish] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013045206/http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/articles/983_darren_johnson.htm |date=13 October 2006 }}

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Category:1966 births

Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London

Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Lewisham

Category:English gay politicians

Category:Living people

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Category:21st-century English LGBTQ people

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