Darren Paul Johnson (born 1966) is a former English politician and prominent member of the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...

. He represented the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

on the London Assembly from 2000 to 2016 and was a

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

councillor in the

London Borough of Lewisham Lewisham () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London; it forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council, based in Catford. The Prime Merid ...

Early life and career

Johnson was born in

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, 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 A mock election is an election for educational demonstration, amusement, or political protest reasons to call for free and fair elections. Less precisely it can refer to a real election purely for advisory (essentially without power) committees o ...

in 1979 as a Conservative Party candidate. He lived in Hull for three years before moving with a friend to

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in London in 1990. He also lived in

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

and

Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...

before settling in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one of ...

. His first job in London was "in accounts with an advertising firm in

Goodge Street Goodge Street is a London Underground station on Tottenham Court Road in Fitzrovia, in the London Borough of Camden. It is on the Northern line's Charing Cross branch between Warren Street and Tottenham Court Road stations, and is in Tra ...

". He took a degree at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

(part of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

) in 1994, eventually gaining a first-class BA (hons.) degree in Politics and Economics. He apparently "started to work on his PhD until the London Assembly distracted him".Knitting Circle Darren Johnson
He was also once a "paid consultant to Friends of the Earth".

Political career

Johnson joined the

in 1987 at the age of 20 "after the Chernobyl Disaster", which "had a big impact" on him. He was Male

Principal Speaker The Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales is the most senior political figure within the Green Party of England and Wales. The role was introduced alongside that of deputy leader in 2008. Prior to this, the party's public spokespersons ...

of the party in 2002. 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 A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

money".

London Assembly member

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, Johnson was elected to the inaugural London Assembly as part of a three-strong

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

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 was elected Chair of the Assembly in May 2009. 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 The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) was a functional body of the Greater London Authority (GLA), established under the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Its principal purpose was to run the London Fire Brigade. The 17 membe ...

(LFEPA). Johnson issued a report on the sustainability measures involved in planning for London's hosting of the Olympics in 2012,“On the Right Track?” Report
, Darren Johnson, 2009. and also chaired an inquiry on nuclear waste trains for the London Assembly.Nuclear Waste Trains Investigative Committee Scrutiny Report
2001. He was previously Chair of the Environment Committee (between 2004/9 and 2010/11). The committee produced a number of reports, including investigations into the loss of street trees,“Chainsaw Massacre: A review of London's street trees” Report
Environment Committee, 2007. and the effects of paving over front gardens in the city.“Crazy Paving: The environmental importance of London’s front gardens” Report
, Environment Committee, 2005. Along with his long-standing colleague Jenny Jones, he stood down at the 2016 election.

Lewisham councillor

In the 2002 local elections, Johnson was elected as a councillor for the

Brockley Brockley is a district and an electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. History The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood where badgers are seen (' ...

ward in the

, the Greens' first councillor in

, polling 1026 votes and coming top in the ward. 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.Lewisham Council Election Results 2006
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.Darren Johnson's Lewisham Green Party Biography
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.

Mayoral candidate

Johnson was the

's candidate for

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

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%), thus coming fifth overall. 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

voted to select

Siân Berry Siân Rebecca Berry (born 9 July 1974) is a British politician who served as Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongside Jonathan Bartley from 2018 to 2021, and as its sole leader from July to October 2021. From 2006 to 2007, s ...

as their mayoral candidate in the 2008 mayoral election, replacing Johnson. The winner in this election was

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

Parliamentary candidate

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 The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded ins ...

(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%).

Personal life

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. His book 'The Sweet in the 1970s' was published b
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.

References

External links

Green Party biography2000 critique by Mayor-of-London.Com

2002 interview with MayorWatch

2004 interview with the BBC

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Darren 1966 births Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Councillors in the London Borough of Lewisham Gay politicians Living people People from Southport Green Party Members of the London Assembly LGBT politicians from England 21st-century LGBT people