Name: John Healey
Job: Shadow minister for housing
He keeps a hard hat in his Westminster office
The white hat, emblazoned with the red Labour logo “A future fair for all”, is a souvenir Healey kept from his visits to construction sites during his time as housing minister under Gordon Brown from June 2009 to May 2010.
He’s a former local government minister
Before taking on the housing brief, Healey, the MP for Wentworth and Dearne, served for two years as minister for local government, from 2007 until 2009, and was replaced by Rosie Winterton, the current chief whip. He has also previously held roles in the Treasury, as financial secretary from 2005 to 2007 and economic secretary from 2002 to 2005.
He has a pre-parliament history of campaigning
After a brief stint as a journalist in his 20s, Healey became a full-time disability rights campaigner for a number of charities, before becoming campaign director for the Trades Union Congress in 1994. He is a member of Amnesty International.
Housing policy is his hobby, not just his job
Despite moving from shadow housing minister to the shadow health brief under Ed Miliband, he remained interested in housing. Healey was instrumental in starting the Social Housing Under Threat (Shout) campaign to lobby for and defend social housing. He’s also a familiar face at housing events, conferences and demonstrations around the country.
Sign up for your free Guardian Housing network newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Friday. Follow us: @GuardianHousing
