HOME truths are in order when former Home Secretary Alan Johnson gives an insight into the life of a senior-ranking politician at Pocklington Arts Centre on May 23, six days after his 68th birthday.

In An Audience With Alan Johnson, the ex-Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle and award-winning author will reflect on his political life and take part in a question-and-answer session.

Mr Johnson, who stood down last year after 20 years of serving Hull, will follow in the footsteps of fellow politicians Paddy Ashdown, Anne Widdecombe, This Week colleague Michael Portillo and the late Tony Benn in appearing at Pock Arts Centre.

Mr 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. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. He was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer until January 20 2011 and was named as the head of Labour’s EU referendum campaign in June 2015.

"East Yorkshire is a part of the world I have come to know very well through my years as an MP and proud to call my home," he says. "I am very much looking forward to meeting the people of Pocklington and sharing with them some anecdotes from my life, from my days in the slums of West London, to working as a postman in Slough, to representing the constituents of Kingston-Upon-Hull West and Hessle."

The first half will feature Mr Johnson "in conversation". "I’ll touch on key moments in my early life, some of which will be familiar to those who have bought any of my three volumes of memoirs," he says.

"The second half we will open up to the floor and in my experience this is when we tend to get into the nitty-gritty of my time in government, working with the likes of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

"It’s my chance to take credit for the things the audience think we did right, or get blamed for what they perceive were the mistakes. But hopefully we’ll also get a chance to cover some of my other passions in life; music, The Beatles, literature and the (mis)fortunes of Queens Park Rangers.”

His three memoirs, 2013's This Boy, 2014's Please Mr Postman and 2016's The Long And Winding Road, have sold almost half a million copies between them.

Tickets for Mr Johnson's 7.30pm event cost £14 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk