Jonathan Djanogly
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Simon Djanogly (born 3 June 1965) is a British
politician
, former practicing solicitor
and Conservative
Member of Parliament
(MP) for Huntingdon
. Djanogly has been Trade and Industry Spokesman shadowing
the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
, Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales
and is currently Parliamentary Under-secretary of State
at the Ministry of Justice
.
to a British Jewish
family, the son of millionaire textile manufacturer
Sir Harry Djanogly.
, an independent school
for boys in Hampstead
in North London
, followed by Oxford Polytechnic
in Oxford
, where he was elected chairman of the Conservative Association in 1987, and he earned a Bachelor of Arts
in law
and politics
in 1987. He took his law finals at the College of Law
, Guildford
, in 1988.
, London, in 1988 as a trainee solicitor, was admitted as a solicitor in 1990, and served as corporate finance
partner
between 1998 and 2009.
in 1994 and re-elected in 1998. He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Oxford East at the 1997 General Election
where he was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Andrew Smith by 16,665 votes. Before the 2001 General Election
he was selected as Conservative candidate for the very safe seat of Huntingdon, following the retirement of sitting MP and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Sir John Major
. Djanogly resigned his council seat early in 2001 shortly before the general election campaign.
At the 2001 election Djanogly held the Huntingdon seat comfortably with a majority of 12,792 and has remained an MP since. He made his maiden speech
on 2 July 2001.
Djanogly held the Huntingdon seat again in 2005 and 2010 with majorities of 12,847 and 10,819 respectively.
He served on the Trade and Industry Select Committee from 2001, was promoted to the frontbench
by Michael Howard
as an opposition spokesman on Home Affairs
in 2004, and served as Shadow Solicitor General
between May 2004 and May 2010. In 2005 Djanogly was also appointed a shadow Business Minister in the team shadowing the Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom) (now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
) where until the 2010 General Election he worked on corporate governance and business regulations.
In the 2009 United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
it has been alleged that Jonathan Djanogly improperly claimed expenses for a "cleaner" who was actually a childminder. In response Djanogly stated that the person in question was employed as a cleaner although “there would clearly have been times during evenings when she would have been there with a child alone, but this was not her job or what she was paid to do” and acknowledged that the person received no other payment for any services provided. In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph
disclosed that Mr Djanogly claimed almost £5,000 on his parliamentary expenses for the installation of gates at his large constituency home. The MP installed the gates following security fears, after he helped constituents threatened by animal rights activists.
Djanology accepted responsibility for the role he played in the expenses scandal and repaid £25,000 later in 2009. In September 2010 it was revealed that Djanology had hired private detectives in 2009 to uncover the source of leaks to media about his parliamentary expenses.
Following a complaint to the UK Information Commissoner's Office by John Mann MP
in connection with Djanogly's hiring of private detectives to monitor his constituents covertly, on 27 July 2011 the Information Commissioner said that he would not be investigating Mr Djanogly for breaches of the Data Protection Act.
at the Ministry of Justice. His Ministerial role includes a wide range of responsibilities such as the oversight of Legal Aid and Legal services, HM Courts Service, as well as the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Since May 2010 Djanogly has taken the lead on the reforms of Legal Aid, Civil Litigation funding and 'no win, no fee' legal schemes.
In June 2011 he was one of the Ministers that introduced the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to Parliament.
In September 2011 Djanogly announced the Government's intention to ban referral fees in personal injury claims, saying that 'Honest motorists are seeing their premiums hiked up as insurance companies cover the increasing costs of more and more compensation claims. Many of the claims are spurious and only happen because the current system allows too many people to profit from minor accidents and incidents.'
On 6 October 2011 Djanogly announced that his department would be launching Alternative Business Structures, enabling non-lawyers to invest in and own legal businesses for the first time. Djanogly called it a 'landmark day for the UK legal industry' adding that 'Potential customers will find legal services become more accessible, more efficient and more competitive.' The move was welcomed by legal experts such as Eddie Goldsmith, chairman of The Conveyancing Association, who said that the move would 'transform the way legal services are delivered'.
On 18 October 2011, following an investigation by the Cabinet Secretary into alleged conflicts of interest arising from proposed changes to the law, which Djanogly was championing, Djanogly requested that the Claims Management Regulation Unit be overseen by a different Justice Minister, to avoid any possible distraction from this important issue after it was suggested that he and his family could personally profit.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, former practicing solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
and Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Huntingdon
Huntingdon (UK Parliament constituency)
Huntingdon is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
. Djanogly has been Trade and Industry Spokesman shadowing
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry , and was itself disbanded on 6 June 2009 on the creation of the Department for Business,...
, Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
and is currently Parliamentary Under-secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the government of the United Kingdom, junior to both a Minister of State and a Secretary of State....
at the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
.
Early life
Djanogly was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to a British Jewish
British Jews
British Jews are Jews who live in, or are citizens of, the United Kingdom. In the 2001 Census, 266,740 people listed their religion as Jewish. The UK is home to the second largest Jewish population in Europe, and has the fifth largest Jewish community worldwide...
family, the son of millionaire textile manufacturer
Textile manufacturing
Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is based in the conversion of three types of fibre into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. These are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. Cotton remains the most important natural fibre, so is treated in depth...
Sir Harry Djanogly.
Education
Djanogly was educated at University College SchoolUniversity College School
University College School, generally known as UCS, is an Independent school charity situated in Hampstead, north west London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views...
, an independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
for boys in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
in North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, followed by Oxford Polytechnic
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...
in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, where he was elected chairman of the Conservative Association in 1987, and he earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
in 1987. He took his law finals at the College of Law
The College of Law
The College of Law of England and Wales is a private educational institution in England and a registered charity which provides legal education for students and professionals.-20th century:...
, Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, in 1988.
Professional career
He joined SJ BerwinSJ Berwin
SJ Berwin is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is currently the 19th-largest law firm in the UK measured by revenues...
, London, in 1988 as a trainee solicitor, was admitted as a solicitor in 1990, and served as corporate finance
Corporate finance
Corporate finance is the area of finance dealing with monetary decisions that business enterprises make and the tools and analysis used to make these decisions. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize shareholder value while managing the firm's financial risks...
partner
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
between 1998 and 2009.
Political career
Djanogly was elected as a councillor for Regents Park ward in the City of WestminsterCity of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
in 1994 and re-elected in 1998. He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Oxford East at the 1997 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
where he was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Andrew Smith by 16,665 votes. Before the 2001 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
he was selected as Conservative candidate for the very safe seat of Huntingdon, following the retirement of sitting MP and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Sir John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
. Djanogly resigned his council seat early in 2001 shortly before the general election campaign.
At the 2001 election Djanogly held the Huntingdon seat comfortably with a majority of 12,792 and has remained an MP since. He made his maiden speech
Maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...
on 2 July 2001.
Djanogly held the Huntingdon seat again in 2005 and 2010 with majorities of 12,847 and 10,819 respectively.
He served on the Trade and Industry Select Committee from 2001, was promoted to the frontbench
Frontbencher
In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench and are described as...
by Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
as an opposition spokesman on Home Affairs
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
in 2004, and served as Shadow Solicitor General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
between May 2004 and May 2010. In 2005 Djanogly was also appointed a shadow Business Minister in the team shadowing the Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom) (now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform .-Ministers:The BIS...
) where until the 2010 General Election he worked on corporate governance and business regulations.
In the 2009 United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal triggered by the leak and subsequent publication by the Telegraph Group in 2009 of expense claims made by members of the United Kingdom Parliament over several years...
it has been alleged that Jonathan Djanogly improperly claimed expenses for a "cleaner" who was actually a childminder. In response Djanogly stated that the person in question was employed as a cleaner although “there would clearly have been times during evenings when she would have been there with a child alone, but this was not her job or what she was paid to do” and acknowledged that the person received no other payment for any services provided. In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
disclosed that Mr Djanogly claimed almost £5,000 on his parliamentary expenses for the installation of gates at his large constituency home. The MP installed the gates following security fears, after he helped constituents threatened by animal rights activists.
Djanology accepted responsibility for the role he played in the expenses scandal and repaid £25,000 later in 2009. In September 2010 it was revealed that Djanology had hired private detectives in 2009 to uncover the source of leaks to media about his parliamentary expenses.
Following a complaint to the UK Information Commissoner's Office by John Mann MP
John Mann (politician)
John Mann is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw since 2001, after the retirement of previous MP Joe Ashton.John Mann serves on the Treasury Select Committee...
in connection with Djanogly's hiring of private detectives to monitor his constituents covertly, on 27 July 2011 the Information Commissioner said that he would not be investigating Mr Djanogly for breaches of the Data Protection Act.
In Government
Following the formation of the Coalition Government Djanogly was named on 14 May 2010 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of StateParliamentary Under-Secretary of State
A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the government of the United Kingdom, junior to both a Minister of State and a Secretary of State....
at the Ministry of Justice. His Ministerial role includes a wide range of responsibilities such as the oversight of Legal Aid and Legal services, HM Courts Service, as well as the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Since May 2010 Djanogly has taken the lead on the reforms of Legal Aid, Civil Litigation funding and 'no win, no fee' legal schemes.
In June 2011 he was one of the Ministers that introduced the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to Parliament.
In September 2011 Djanogly announced the Government's intention to ban referral fees in personal injury claims, saying that 'Honest motorists are seeing their premiums hiked up as insurance companies cover the increasing costs of more and more compensation claims. Many of the claims are spurious and only happen because the current system allows too many people to profit from minor accidents and incidents.'
On 6 October 2011 Djanogly announced that his department would be launching Alternative Business Structures, enabling non-lawyers to invest in and own legal businesses for the first time. Djanogly called it a 'landmark day for the UK legal industry' adding that 'Potential customers will find legal services become more accessible, more efficient and more competitive.' The move was welcomed by legal experts such as Eddie Goldsmith, chairman of The Conveyancing Association, who said that the move would 'transform the way legal services are delivered'.
On 18 October 2011, following an investigation by the Cabinet Secretary into alleged conflicts of interest arising from proposed changes to the law, which Djanogly was championing, Djanogly requested that the Claims Management Regulation Unit be overseen by a different Justice Minister, to avoid any possible distraction from this important issue after it was suggested that he and his family could personally profit.