Lord Adonis - Plod is on his trail

(DOB 22/2/63)takes his rather luscious title from his Greek Cypriot father (Adonis is from the same semitic root as Adonai, meaning "Lord.") and is currently known by the even more impressive title of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Education and Skills.

Andrew's early life was spent council estate near King's Cross in London. His mother left him and his younger sister and Andrew was was awarded a local education authority grant to go to the private Kingham Hill School in Oxfordshire, near Chipping Norton.

From there he went onto Keble College Oxford taking a First in Modern History and then doctorate in 19th century political history at Christ Church, Oxford in 1988. Finally he became a research fellow and tutor at Nuffield College, Oxford from then until 1991, where he met and tutored his wife Kathryn Davis who after graduating at Jesus eventually went to work for Proctor and Gamble in Germany.

Frome the Groves of Oxford Academe he moved on to the Financial Times where he was a public policy correspondent, industry correspondent, and a public policy editor all at the Financial Times. In 1996, he moved to The Observer.

At oxford he appears to have been a member of the SDP and indeed wrote the official biography of Lord Jenkins of Hillhead - a tome that appears to have sunk without trace.he was for a time a Liberal democrat Councillor in Oxford (87-91) and was for a brief time a prospective Parliamentary candidate for the SDP.

The Labour Party, Andrew rises without trace

It was in 1995 that Andrew joined the Labour Party, his rapid rise within the higher levels of the party appears uncharted but after 1997 he was a member of the No 10 Policy Unit with a special interest in Education and has been seen as a prime mover on educational issues such as Top Up Fees, Fresh Start and Tony's favourite "City Academies".

Opposition to Top Up Fees is widespread (said to have been supported by his SDP mentor Lord jenkins) , The strategy of the "Fresh Start" policy was to close and reopen "failing schools" with new names and new staff which has seen to be an experiment that failed. His "City Academies" programme has attracted strong criticism from educationalists, parents and Labour politicians and now has landed him with an interview with the Met's finest to chat about funding the Academies and peerages.

Outside the charmed circle Andrew seems to have few friends and in In October 2003 Andrew was rumoured in the media to have been heavily involved in the resignation of the then Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Estelle Morris, when they failed to work effectively together.

It was however his elevation to the peerage last year after the election when he was boosted to be the Education Secretary that caused most alarm. Finally he had to accept Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - but Ruth Kelly was said to be "less than thrilled "at his presence in her Ministry.

Roy Hattersley former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,lifelong advocate of comprehensive schooling, and sometimed a man with a keen phrase, usually assembled when attacking Tony Blair called his elevation "an example of Tony Blair's kamikaze attacks on its the Labour Party's most cherished values" and that the appointment "wins high marks for [its] arrogant insensitivity"

The Lord's eye view of the Lords

Andrew's rapid elevation to the Lords is curious given that he wrote in 1997, "Modernising Britain's Democracy: The Case for Change" on reforming of the House of Lords:

"Lords reform is not just about democratic equality. The present Second Chamber, lacking democratic legitimacy, is incapable of performing the essential functions of a revising assembly…

"Occasionally the Lords has exerted itself: John Major's government, having lost its overall majority, was forced to make concessions over Michael Howard's police and sentencing legislation. But this was in the highly exceptional instance of a government unable to get its own way automatically in the Commons. Governments most in need of a strong revising chamber - those with large majorities in the Commons - are those which find it easiest to ride roughshod over the little "revision" that the existing Lords carries out.

"This critique implies a two-stage reform of the Lords. First, the removal of the hereditary peers. Secondly, a wider reform to give the Second Chamber the democratic credentials which can only come from election, although there is still a case for a nominated element in the Upper House to ensure that distinguished non-party figures retain a voice in Parliament."

The 1911 Parliament Act, which curbed the Lords' powers, included a pledge to replace the hereditary chamber with an elected one. Ninety years later, we are still waiting.

Highly unpopular with the rank and file he was roundly attacked in January this year when the Education Bill was launched and backbenchers called for his removal. Lord Kinnock without naming Andrew referred to a "conniving person" at the heart of government who was pushing Mr Blair much too far down the path of reform.

Andrew wrote an article when at the Observer in December 1996, in which he saw education as the prime policy for the new Labour Government and urged Tony Blair to take two posts in the new Labour government: prime minister – and Education Secretary.

The article also articulated his concern about the widening gap between state and private education: ‘Britain’s private-sector, private-educated elite is separating from the rest of society at an alarming rate as we breed a strain of plutocratic meritocracy unique to the western world.’ Andrew's proposed solution was to break up the state system as we knew it, using ‘public-private partnership, higher expectations of teachers, the setting and selection of pupils by aptitude, vocational education, and decisive intervention to revive failing schools’.

Academy Schools. Which Tony promised us 200 and we now have 27.... and a reeking smell of power, patronage and influence.

Tony puts his best foot forward

The Daily Telegraph reports today "A senior Downing Street aide to Mr Blair, speaking with his full authority, said Number 10 was now "ready to go on the front foot" on the issue.

"We are very positive about people who have given their money and expertise and time being recommended for seats in the House of Lords," said the aide, adding that the honours system should operate in exactly that way.

"We want these people to be in the House of Lords and take the Labour whip. It is something we are prepared to celebrate."

Plods take an interest in the Baron

Sir Cyril Taylor of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is quoted in the Sunday Herald that Andrew, when he was Blair’s education adviser before he became a minister, had met with potential academy sponsors. Taylor said: “If you are putting in a lot of energy and a couple of million pounds, you want some attention.”

Andrew's involvement in talking to sponsors and giving them the “attention” of a senior Downing Street aide with close contact to Blair, will be of keen interest to the Scotland Yard investigation. As the inquiry widens ... and begins to encompass those officials and aides who met with sponsors, Adonis may well need to explain just what “attention” actually meant.

Six of those who delivered the largest level of sponsorship finance into the city academies programme were officially honoured after pledging cash support. Plus three more who have disapeerages.

Perhaps in 1997 when he wrote about the reform of the Lords ..."although there is still a case for a nominated element in the Upper House to ensure that distinguished non-party figures retain a voice in Parliament." he did, unlike those politicians who go to the trouble of being elected , mean it... and did something about it .... by the well known democratic process of having a word in Tony's ear.(see pic)