David Mervyn Johnston (born 27 November 1981) is a British politician who has served as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...

since

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. He is a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. On 6 July 2022, he resigned from his Position as Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Education following the resignations of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid.

Early life and education

Johnston was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

, East London, to parents Mervyn and Carol Johnston. He attended Tom Hood Comprehensive School and Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College, before going on to university at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, where he gained a BA in Modern History and Politics in 2003.

Career

From 2003 to 2006, Johnston was co-ordinator of the Oxford Access Scheme. He then became a director of Future, holding this role from 2006 to 2009. Before he became an MP, he was chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation for over ten years, from 2009 to 2020. He was also a member of the

Social Mobility Commission The Social Mobility Commission (SMC), formerly the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (2012–16) and originally the Child Poverty Commission (2010–12), is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Department for Education (DfE) i ...

from 2012 to 2017. Johnston was a governor at Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College, where he had studied, from 2008 to 2016, as well as

Pimlico Academy Pimlico Academy (formerly Pimlico School) is a mixed-sex education secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the Pimlico area of Westminster in London. History Conversion to academy After many years of underperformance, cul ...

from 2008 to 2017. He was elected to

, a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for the

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, in

. He succeeded

Ed Vaizey Edward Henry Butler Vaizey, Baron Vaizey of Didcot, (born 5 June 1968) is a British politician, media columnist, political commentator and barrister who was Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries from 2010 to 2016. A memb ...

. He served on the Education Select Committee between 2020 and 2021. In September 2021, he was appointed as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

at the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

. Johnston resigned as PPS on 6 July 2022, following other resignations in protest of Boris Johnson's conduct in the

Chris Pincher scandal The Chris Pincher scandal is a political controversy in the United Kingdom related to allegations of sexual misconduct by the former Conservative Party Deputy Chief Whip, Chris Pincher. In early July 2022, allegations of Pincher's misconduct ...

Honours

Johnston was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2018 for services to "social mobility and education" through his former role as chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation.

Personal life

Johnston's partner is Charlotte Pickles. He lists his recreations as travel, the outdoors and the gym, in addition to being a

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

season ticket holder.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, David 1981 births Living people UK MPs 2019–present Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies