The Lord Johnson of Lainston | |
---|---|
![]() Johnson in 2012 | |
Minister of State for Regulatory Reform | |
Assumed office 14 November 2023 | |
Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
Preceded by | The Earl of Minto |
Minister of State for Investment | |
Assumed office 24 November 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
Preceded by | Himself |
In office 2 October 2022 – 28 October 2022 | |
Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
Preceded by | The Lord Grimstone of Boscobel |
Succeeded by | Himself |
Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party | |
In office 17 July 2016 – 26 July 2019 | |
Leader | Theresa May |
Preceded by | Robert Halfon |
Succeeded by | Paul Scully |
Member of the House of Lords | |
Assumed office 24 October 2022 Life peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | Dominic Robert Andrew Johnson 1974 (age 49–50) London, England |
Spouse |
Alice Rose Alethea Hamilton
(
m. 2006) |
Relatives | Archie Hamilton (father-in-law) |
Education | Durham University |
Dominic Robert Andrew Johnson, Baron Johnson of Lainston, CBE (born 6 April 1974), is a British financier, hedge fund manager and politician, the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Somerset Capital Management. He currently serves as a Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade, having served in the department during the tenure of Liz Truss. Johnson has given more than £250,000 to the Conservative Party, and was its vice-chairman from 2016 to 2019.
Johnson was born in London in 1974, [1] son of Patrick Johnson and Juliet Elizabeth, daughter of Lt Andrew John Craig-Harvey, 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, of Lainston House, Sparsholt, near Winchester, Hampshire, now a hotel. Juliet's mother, Mary, daughter of Royal Navy Captain Robert Bradshaw Wilmot Sitwell, CBE, was a descendant, through her mother, of the Conservative politicians Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers and Sir Armine Wodehouse, 5th Baronet. Johnson's maternal uncle, Nicholas Craig-Harvey, is married to Lady Julia, daughter of the Conservative politician Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland and maternal granddaughter of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch, also a Conservative politician. [2] [3] [4] [5]
When Johnson was six months old, his mother fatally stabbed his father after an argument over a burnt meal; although two guests attempted to assist him, Patrick Johnson died two days later aged thirty one. [6] Johnson's mother, aged twenty seven, was found guilty of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility, and sent to Rooksdown Hospital in Hampshire; she was subsequently released and later remarried. [6] Johnson and his older sister were raised by their maternal grandparents. [6]
Johnson earned a bachelor's degree in politics from Durham University, where he was in Collingwood College, graduating in 1995. [1] [7]
Johnson began his career in finance with Robert Fleming & Co. in 1995, and then with Jardine Fleming, Hong Kong, in 1998. [8] In 2001, he went into asset management, and worked for Lloyd George Management until 2007. [8] In 2007, he co-founded Somerset Capital Management (SCM) with Jacob Rees-Mogg and Edward Robertson. [8] [9] All three were colleagues at Lloyd George Management in Hong Kong. [10] Rees-Mogg was CEO of SCM until Johnson succeeded him in 2010. [10]
In September 2022, SCM with assets under management of about $5 billion was up for sale, with Johnson planning to move into politics, and would be succeeded by chief operating officer Robert Diggle as CEO. [11]
From 2006 to 2010, Johnson was a Conservative councillor for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. [1]
In 2016, when his friend David Cameron stood down as prime minister, Johnson gave him the use of his £2,650-a-week Chelsea house, [1] and Cameron accordingly declared a benefit of more than £37,000 in the register of MPs' interests. [12]
Johnson has given more than £250,000 to the Conservative Party, and was its vice-chairman from 2016 to 2019. [9] In the 2017 New Year Honours, Johnson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for political service". [1]
On 2 October 2022, Johnson was appointed by Liz Truss as a minister of state in the Cabinet Office and the Department for International Trade. [9] He is currently Minister of State for Investment. On 19 October 2022, to facilitate his ministerial role, he was created Baron Johnson of Lainston, of Lainston in the County of Hampshire. [13] [14] "Lainston" derives from his mother's family home, Lainston House, near Winchester in Hampshire, which is now a hotel. [15] Johnson was sacked by Truss's successor, Rishi Sunak, soon after he became Prime Minister.
Sunak re-appointed Johnson as a Minister of State for International Trade on 24 November 2022.
In 2024 it was reported that Johnson “made clear that he was keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that”. [16]
In 2006, he married Alice Rose Alethea Hamilton (born 1974), the daughter of Archibald Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of Epsom, a British Conservative Party politician. [17]
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