Stanley Johnson

Stanley Patrick Johnson was born on 18 August 1940 in Penzance, Cornwall, United Kingdom. He is the son of Osman Kemal, later known as Wilfred Johnson, and Irene Williams. His paternal grandfather, Ali Kemal Bey, was one of the last interior ministers of the Ottoman government and was assassinated in 1922 during the Turkish War of Independence. Johnson's father was born in 1909 in Bournemouth and was registered as Osman Ali Wilfred Kemal. His mother, Irene Williams, was the daughter of Stanley Fred Williams of Bromley, Kent, and Marie Louise de Pfeffel. Johnson's maternal grandparents included Hubert Freiherr von Pfeffel and Hélène Arnous-Rivière, linking him to European noble lineage.

Johnson attended Sherborne School in Dorset. During his undergraduate studies in English at Exeter College, Oxford, he participated in the Marco Polo Expedition alongside Tim Severin and Michael de Larrabeiti, traveling from Oxford to Venice and onward to India and Afghanistan. The journey was documented in Severin's 1964 book, "Tracking Marco Polo."

In 1963, Johnson enrolled at Columbia University in New York City but left after one year. During his time in the United States, he married painter Charlotte Fawcett. The couple had four children: Boris Johnson, Rachel Johnson, Jo Johnson, and Leo Johnson. They divorced in 1979. Johnson married Jennifer Kidd in Westminster in 1981; together, they have two children, Julia and Maximilian Johnson.

Professionally, Johnson received a United States Harkness Fellowship in the 1960s and worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, he served as the head of the Prevention of Pollution Division at the European Commission (EC) in Brussels, beginning in 1973. He briefly acted as an advisor to the EC's Environment Directorate in May 1979 and resumed his role there in 1984 until taking a second leave of absence in 1990 to focus on international environmental policy. He retired early from the European Commission in 1994.

From June 1979 to 1984, Johnson served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing Wight and Hampshire East as a member of the Conservative Party. In the 2005 UK general election, he unsuccessfully ran as the Conservative candidate for Teignbridge, finishing second to Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Younger-Ross.

Johnson’s political alignment shifted over time; initially a member of the Conservative Party, he later expressed support for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, citing issues with the European Commission's approach.

He has authored multiple books on environmental and population issues, as well as nine novels. Notable works include "The Commissioner," which was adapted into a film starring John Hurt in 1998, and "The Virus," a 2015 thriller about a deadly pandemic. Johnson also won the Newdigate Prize for Poetry in 1962, and he contributed a weekly column to The Guardian's G2 section starting in May 2005.

Johnson has been involved in television, hosting "The Last Word" on Channel 4's More4, and appeared on programs such as "Have I Got News For You," "The Real Marigold Hotel," and "Celebrity Antiques Road Trip." He was a contestant on the seventeenth series of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" in 2017, finishing in seventh place.

Throughout his career, Johnson has received awards such as the RSPCA Richard Martin Award in 1983 and the RSPB Medal in 2015. He has also been recognized for his contributions to environmental conservation, specifically for his role in the creation of the European Union’s Habitats Directive.

In public statements, Johnson has expressed views on political and international matters, including support for the UK's departure from the EU and commentary on UK–China diplomatic relations.

Johnson's personal life has been the subject of various allegations, including claims of domestic abuse from his first wife, Charlotte Fawcett, which he has denied. In 2021, he was accused of inappropriate touching by Caroline Nokes at the 2003 Conservative Party Conference, an allegation he also denied.

He has stated that he is eligible for French citizenship through his maternal ancestry and has been granted French citizenship.