Alan Johnson was General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union before entering Parliament as a Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle in 1997. He served as Home Secretary Health Secretary and Education Secretary, in the Blair/Brown government. Until 20 January 2011, he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
He has written several biographies including his childhood memoirs ‘This Boy’, ‘Please Mr Postman’, ‘The Long and winding Road’ and ‘In my Life – A music memoir’ as well as moving into writing novels ‘The Late Train to Gipsy Hill’ in September 2021 and ‘One of Our Ministers is Missing’, is due for publication on September 1st, 2022, A thriller. His memoirs have won many accolades, Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and the Orwell Prize, National Book Club award for Best Biography. Parliamentary Book Award for Best Memoir.
Alan retired as an MP before the 2017 general election after 20 years as an MP. Alan has spent eight years on the BBC’s ‘This Week’ with Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo, Alan now appears regularly with Steph McGovern on Channel 4’s ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’ and is the agony uncle for saga Magazine. He lives in East Yorkshire with his wife Carolyn.
Matthew Stadlen is an English radio and television presenter, commentator, producer, writer, and author in his own right. His previous interviews include Sir Michael Caine, John Cleese, Eddie Jones, Sir Alastair Cook, Nicola Benedetti, David Suchet, Jo Brand, Anish Kapoor, Ian McEwan, Rick Stein, Sir Simon Schama; the list is endless and it matters not if they are live events, TV or radio, and more recently podcasts. He has also regularly written for all the national papers.
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