We're filming cosmic rays in a cloud chamber - honest #bbcwonders - Professor Brian Cox. Home. Ex-Home Secretary Johnson is named shadow chancellor. 8 October 2010Last updated at 18:17 Alan Johnson on his new role as shadow chancellor Alan Johnson has been named shadow chancellor in a surprise move by new Labour leader Ed Miliband. Ed Balls, widely tipped for the Treasury brief, will be shadow home secretary, while Yvette Cooper is shadow foreign secretary. On the crucial issue of the deficit, Mr Johnson said the government was cutting spending too far and too fast. But he acknowledged his lack of economic experience, saying he was being "chucked in the deep end". Asked by the BBC what his first move would be in the job, he joked that it would be to "pick up a primer in economics for beginners". 'Economic alternative' He said he would draw on the experience of other colleagues who had served in the Treasury and it was a "glorious thing" about British politics that politicians had to learn quickly on the job.
Government plans to cut spending by 25% in many departments risked "creating mayhem", he stressed. 'Caretaker appointment' New faces. Wales. Technology.