The BMF has announced Alan Johnson, the former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister, as the first keynote speaker at the BMF All Industry Conference 2023, which takes place in Istanbul next June.
Alan Johnson was General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union before entering Parliament as Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle in 1997. He served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010, having previously filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Following the 2010 election, he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer until January 2011. Alan retired as an MP before the 2017 general election after 20 years as an MP.
In addition to regular TV appearances as a political commentator, he has published three award-winning memoirs covering his childhood, early working life as a postman, and his time in parliament. Following a fourth memoir about his love of music, he turned his attention to writing novels, the first published in September 2021, with a second, a thriller entitled “One of our Ministers is Missing”, due for publication in September 2022.
John Newcomb, BMF CEO said: “We are delighted to welcome someone as insightful and as eloquent as Alan as our political keynote speaker in Istanbul, where we will explore our Conference theme of Creating Connections.
“This session always draws a full house, and Alan follows in the footsteps of fellow political heavyweights including Michael Portillo (2013), Alistair Campbell (2015), Paddy Ashdown (2017), John Prescott (2019) and John Bercow (2021). I have no doubt that Alan’s address will once again be one of the highlights of our Conference.”
The BMF All Industry Conference 2023 takes place in Istanbul 15-18 June, with the support of headline sponsor Knauf UK, and the BMF reports that the final merchant places and supplier packages are selling out fast. Book via www.bmfconference.co.uk or contact June.Upton@bmf.org.uk
