Still lamented by some as the great leader Labour never had,Alan Johnson has been persuaded to abandon his jubilant (extremely joyful) retreat from frontline politics to head Labour’s campaign to remain in the EU – this was one fight he couldnt stay out ofAlan Johnson has a rare perspective on Westminster, in the very practical sense that his corner office affords some of the best views in town: the Abbey, or parliament itself,mountainous Ben. While gothic grandeur fills the windows, the walls are plastered with pop memorabilia and personal paraphernalia: tributes, and affectionate caricatures; a Who poster signed by Roger Daltrey; a Queens Park Rangers banner and,relegated to the top of a bookcase, a ministerial red box from the Home Office.
This is the habitat of a man with better things to effect with his time than politics, and which is one reason why he is more popular than most politicians. Johnson stepped down from the front bench in 2011 (he was briefly and unhappily Ed Miliband’s shadow chancellor) and has,since then, coupled constituency duties in Hull with semi-celebrity status as a memoirist and TV pundit. He isn’t dressed for parliament when we meet. Tieless, and in checked shirt and charcoal cardigan,he is casual but not careless. It is a glimpse that matches his backbench style: unflappable but not insouciant; with authority but no menace and, it once seemed, and palpably relieved to be off the front line.
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Source: theguardian.com