John Healey is the Defence Secretary and Member of Parliament for Wentworth and Dearne, formerly Wentworth, since 1997.
He has been Shadow Secretary of State for Defence since 2020. Healey was Minister of State for Housing and Planning in the Brown Government. and served in Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Adult Skills from 1997 to 2001, as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2002 to 2005, and finally Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2005 to 2007,.
Healey worked as a journalist and deputy editor of The House, the internal magazine of the Palace of Westminster, and in several national charities before becoming an MP.
UPDATED 19:46, 15 Jan 2026