Rachel Johnson's Biography

Who is Rachel Johnson?

Rachel Sabiha Johnson was born on Exmoor on 3 September 1965, the daughter of Stanley Johnson and Charlotte Johnson Wahl. They divorced in 1979.

She is the sister of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson MP, Jo Johnson MP,  who is also a Minister, and Leo, whose jobs have included being a presenter on BBC World and being a partner at PwC.

Rachel Johnson went to Winsford First School, Primrose Hill Primary School, the European School in Brussels, Ashdown House, Bryanston School, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Davidson College in North Carolina and New College, Oxford.

She was the first female graduate trainee at the Financial Times, where she was from 1989 to 1994, but on secondment to the Foreign Office from 1992 to 1993.

She continued to pursue a career in journalism initially in radio at BBC Radio Four, but then as a columnist at the Sunday Telegraph, the FT, the Daily Telegraph, the Evening Standard, the Spectator, and the Sunday Times,.

In 2009 she became editor of The Lady and in 2012 editor-in-chief.

Rachel Johnson is a panellist on The Pledge on Sky News, along with the likes of Nick Ferrari, Michelle Dewberry, and Carole Malone.

Her books include the novel Notting Hell, and the historical novel Winter Games.

Rachel Johnson's husband Iwo Dawnay is communications director of the National Trust.

They have three children.

In December 2017, it was revealed that Rachel Johnson was to be one of the housemates on Celebrity Big Brother in January 2018.

In December 2018,  Rachel and her father Stanley co-hosted the West of England edition of a one-off documentary River Walks.

In April 2019, it was revealed that Rachel Johnson would be a candidate for Change UK in the forthcoming European elections.

In August 2020, the BBC announced that Rachel Johnson would be one of the contestants on Celebrity Best Home Cook.

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