Caroline Elizabeth Johnson (''née'' Burton; born 31 December 1977) is a British Conservative Party politician and consultant paediatrician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sleaford and North Hykeham since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Public Health from September to October 2022. She has been Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care since July 2024.

Early life and career

Caroline Burton was born on 31 December 1977 in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

."Johnson, Caroline Elizabeth"
''Who's Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 28 December 2017. She attended

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School ( ) is an elite co-educational Private school (United Kingdom), private school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. Two generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including Prince Philip, Duke of Ed ...

, a

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

. She graduated from

Newcastle University Medical School Newcastle University School of Medicine is the medical school at Newcastle University in England. It was established in 1834 in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and served as the College of Medicine in connection with Durham University from 1851 ...

in 2001. Johnson became a

senior house officer A senior house officer (SHO) is a non-consultant hospital doctor in Ireland and many Commonwealth countries. SHOs usually have a minimum of 1 year post medical school training. SHOs are supervised in their work by consultants and registrars. In tr ...

in 2002, a

paediatrics Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

specialist registrar A specialty registrar (StR), previously known as and still commonly referred to as a specialist registrar (SpR), is a doctor, public health practitioner or dentist who is working as part of a specialty training programme in the UK. This is known ...

in 2005; and a

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

in 2012.

Parliamentary career

Johnson stood as the Conservative candidate in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...

at the 2010 general election, coming second with 32.6% of the vote behind the Labour candidate Nic Dakin. In the June 2016 European Union membership referendum, Johnson voted for

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

. Johnson was selected in November 2016 as the Conservative candidate for the 2016 Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election. She was elected to Parliament as MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham with 53.5% of the vote and a majority of 13,144. At the snap 2017 general election, Johnson was re-elected as MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham with an increased vote share of 64.2% and a majority of 25,237. Following the election, she was chosen to be part of the

Health and Social Care Select Committee The Health and Social Care Select Committee (abbreviated to HSC, HSCC and HSCSC) is a Departmental Select Committee of the British House of Commons, the lower house of the United Kingdom Parliament. Its remit is to examine the policy, administ ...

and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. She served on the Health and Social Care Select Committee until February 2018 and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee until November 2019. Johnson voted for then Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

's Brexit withdrawal agreement and against any referendum on a withdrawal agreement in March 2019. She supported

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

in the

2019 Conservative Party leadership election The 2019 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered when Theresa May announced on 24 May 2019 that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June and as Prime Minister of the Unite ...

. Following his election as prime minister, she voted for his Brexit withdrawal agreement in October 2019. At the 2019 general election, Johnson was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 67.1% and an increased majority of 32,565. She was a member of the

Education Select Committee The Education Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any asso ...

between March 2020 and October 2022. Johnson rejoined the Health and Social Care Select Committee in November 2022. During the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis, Johnson resigned as the Vice Chair of the Conservative Party on 7 July, after over 50 previous resignations of MPs and ministers, criticising then Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "errors of judgement" and calling for his resignation. After the election of

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...

as prime minister in September 2022, she was appointed as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the

Department of Health and Social Care The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the s ...

. Following Truss' resignation, she supported Johnson's bid to return as PM in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. From September 2022, Johnson became chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) for Children who need Palliative Care. In March 2023, Johnson was re-selected as the Conservative candidate for Sleaford and North Hykeham at the 2024 general election. In July 2023, Johnson opened a debate on planning to voice her opposition to new large

solar farms A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

as she felt that it would "dramatically alter the landscape for the worse" and reduce the availability of

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

. At the 2024 general election, Johnson was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 35.7% and a decreased majority of 4,346.

Personal life

Caroline married Nik Johnson in 2001 and they have three children. He owns a

fertiliser A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrition, plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from Liming (soil), liming materials or other non- ...

business. They live in Sudbrook, Lincolnshire. In addition to her parliamentary duties, she continues to work part-time as a consultant paediatrician in Peterborough City Hospital and earns a salary of £21,199.20 for 336 hours annually as of February 2023. In 2024 she took part in the

London marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

, eventually finishing with a time of 7:47:32, the slowest finish of any MP.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Caroline 1977 births Living people Alumni of Newcastle University 21st-century British medical doctors 21st-century British women medical doctors British paediatricians English women medical doctors Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Gordonstoun Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People from South Kesteven District UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 UK MPs 2024–present British women paediatricians 21st-century British women politicians Politicians from Middlesbrough 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians British Eurosceptics