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Adonis's previous role in the Number 10 Policy Unit is generally accepted as having driven most of Labour's key Education reforms since the 1997 General Election - most notably the programme of " City Academies ". He served as an advisor on education, public services and constitutional reform from 1998 until his appointment as Under Secretary of State in 2005 , headed the Policy Unit as a whole from 2001 until 2003 and wrote the official biography of Roy Jenkins . EARLY AND PRIVATE LIFE Lord Adonis is son of Nicos Adonis, a Greek Cypriot retired postman and former waiter, who immigrated to England in 1960 , and Josephine Leadbeater alias Stevens (born 1943 ), a nurse. He was born one month after the wedding and was first named Andreas (the Greek form of 'Andrew'). His sister, Michelle Adonis, was born about one year after him. Mrs Leadbeater left the family when Andrew was a toddler and had no communication with him since, apparently because - as she puts it - her husband threatened her. Nicos Adonis remarried twice (when Andrew was eight and twelve); he now lives mainly in Cyprus . Josephine Leadbeater lives in Norfolk . Adonis was raised on a run-down council estate near King's Cross in London . He was awarded a local education authority grant to attend the Private Kingham Hill School in Oxfordshire , near Chipping Norton . He graduated (with a BA in Modern History ) from Keble College, Oxford , subsequently completing a doctorate in 19th century political history at Christ Church, Oxford in 1988 , and finally filled a post as a research fellow and Tutor at Nuffield College, Oxford from then until 1991 . From 1991 to 1996 , he was a public policy correspondent, industry correspondent, and a public policy editor all at the '' Financial Times ''. In 1996 , he then moved to '' The Observer ''. He is married to Kathryn Davies (born 31 January 1968 ), who was one of his Undergraduate students at Oxford when he was a tutor at Nuffield College. Mrs. Davies became a Graduate of Jesus College, Oxford and worked for a couple of years in Marketing of Feminine Hygiene products and in Public Relations at Procter & Gamble 's Brands , mainly in Germany . She grew up in Tunbridge Wells , but her father, a retired teacher, has Welsh origins. The family lives with their two young children in Islington , London . POLITICAL BACKGROUND Adonis only joined the Labour Party in 1995 . Whilst at Oxford , he had been an active member of the SDP in his late Teens , and the merged Liberal Democrats after the SDP's merger with the Liberal Party in 1988 . From 1987 until 1991 , he served as a Liberal Democrat Councillor there. In 1994, he was selected by Westbury Constituency Liberal Democrats as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate , but resigned after about 18 months, without fighting an election. It was rumoured that he had toyed with the idea of joining the Conservatives before switching to Labour after Blair's reforms from 1994 onwards. Although it is said that Lord Adonis is opposed to the elitism of the ' Oxbridge ' universities, Public School s and other Independent School s, he is himself sometimes called an elitist since he is allegedly a part and a product of this elitism and Oxbridge insider relationships. Also, as a co-author of the book ''A Class Act'', Adonis calls for strong selection in schools. Furthermore he is regarded as being responsible for the introduction of top-up fees in England. In 2003 , Patrick Butler , Society editor at '' The Guardian '', ranked Adonis after Ken Livingstone , Sir Ian Kennedy , James Strachan , Paul Dacre , Dave Prentis , Ed Balls and Geoff Mulgan as the eighth "most influential" - not powerful - figure in Britain's public services. This may explain why he became, as Michael White at '' The Guardian '' puts it, "...a handy hate figure for critics of Tony Blair and the New Labour project". It ist said that his understanding of education policy seems to add to the elitism of money and class roots a new layer, the elitism of the brainiest (sometimes called the tyranny of ."''. Therefore it was well noted in the press that in 2003 he and his wife planned to send their son to the private Deutsche Schule in Richmond , London , which seemed inconsistent with his political statements and Labour affiliations. Although Adonis is known to admire the German school system because of its early selection. But finally his son and daughter had to attend St Andrew´s (Barnsbury) CE Primary School in Islington, London, which is the closest to their flat. This school is rated far below national average. Regarding his personal involvement in changing Islington Green School into a City Academy Adonis is charged to have a clear conflict of interest because it is the school he is likely to consider for his own children. In December 2005 the Department for Education and Skills announced to pass any decision on the Islington Green School to another minister in the department. NUMBER 10 POLICY UNIT Adonis is said to be an education policy expert. In his role at the Number 10 Policy Unit , Adonis is generally accepted as having driven most of Labour's key Education reforms since the 1997 General Election , including, " Top-Up Fees ", " City Academies " and "Fresh Start". The strategy of the "Fresh Start" policy was to close and reopen "failing schools" with new names and new staff. In 2000 , when the experiment began to fail dramatically with the resignation of the three "super-heads" in five days, Adonis resigned from the governing body of the Islington Arts and Media School. The BBC Two programme ''Head on the Block'' documented the problems of the school in its first year. His "City Academies" programme has attracted strong criticism from educationalists, parents and Labour politicians. In October 2003 Adonis 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. Today his local newspaper in Islington has already called him "the Government´s schools boss". Although he frequently tries to camouflage his influence in public with an extreme servile behavior, telling always how highly impressed and pleased he was to be at any school while even mixing up school names sometimes. In June 2005, Lord Adonis was named as one of the key persons in the forced bankruptcy in 2001 of Railtrack . MINISTERHOOD AND PEERAGE The move first to promote Adonis as a Minister Of State and - after the public outcry - then to nominate him merely as a Parliamentary Under Secretary Of State at the Department for Education and Skills is said to have followed the recognition that Adonis had played already a major role in the Department's policy outline, even in David Blunkett 's days. Because of this, the Education Secretary , Ruth Kelly , was described by '' The Observer '' as "less than thrilled" over his elevation, at whatever rank. The prospect of Adonis's Peerage and ministerhood was described by Roy Hattersley , former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and lifelong advocate of comprehensive schooling, as 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 {Link without Title} arrogant insensitivity". Lord Adonis's membership of the House Of Lords is seen only as an attempt to overcome the flaw that he has not been elected. Already in 2005 it was argued that the Peerage under Tony Blair since 1997 has been used quite strategically in comparison to the former seven years under John Major . Important Cabinet officials have generally only been created Life Peers upon retirement from the House Of Commons . Apparently Adonis's Peerage - without naming any relevant merits - has thrown another light on the discussion about the democratic legitimacy of the House Of Lords as a parliamentary institution which was challenged by Adonis himself in 1988. In April 2006 Lord Adonis finally became involved in police inquiries into the allegation of peerages for sale. One quotation of the without exception negative public reactions about his appointment to the Lords states: "His detractors refer to him as 'more Andrew than Adonis ' but his elevation to office could signal a determination within Blair to secure a radical legacy." While still an adviser on education, Adonis was nicknamed 'Tony Zoffis' by the education commentator Ted Wragg (who was not among Adonis' supporters); this nickname stuck and has begun to be used by others. And in 2006 a Conservative Spokesman adds: "... an unelected lord, who is only a minister due to being a Blair favourite ..." In January 2006, Labour Party rebels demand openly to dismiss Lord Adonis from his post as Under-Secretary of State, and Sir Simon Jenkins said that "It is what happens when you put an unelected lord in charge of sensitive social policy." HIS PUBLICATIONS articles and books listed at amazon.com - to be completed # ''A Class Act: The Myth of Britain's Classless Society'', Stephen Pollard co-authored with Andrew Adonis # ''Subsidiarity: No panacea'', Andrew Adonis # ''A Constitution for Europe: A Comparative Study of Federal Constitutions and Plans for the United States of Europe'', Preston King, ''et al.'' # ''Failure in British Government: The Politics of the Poll Tax'', David Butler, ''et al.'' # ''Network Europe and the Information Society'', Andrew Adonis, Lord Cockfield # ''Making Aristocracy Work: The Peerage and the Political System in Britain, 1884-1914'' from Oxford Historical Monographs, Andrew Adonis # ''Roy Jenkins: A Retrospective'', 2004, Andrew Adonis (Editor), Keith Thomas (Editor) # ''Parliament Today'' (Politics Today Series), Andrew Adonis # ''A Conservative Revolution?: The Thatcher-Reagan Decade in Perspective'' Andrew Adonis (Editor), Tim Hames (Editor) # ''A Constitution for Europe: A Comparative Study of Federal Constitutions and Plans for the United States of Europe'', 1991, Preston King, ''et al.'' Various '' New Statesman '' articles: # ''Diana restated in modern form the Victorian values which preceded and will post-date the universal welfare state'' 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II'', 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''Using Europe, Abusing Europeans: Britain and European Integration, 1945-1963'' (book review), 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''Our progressives only look dead'' (prospects for a revival of progressivism in the United Kingdom), 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''The Castle of Lies: Why Britain Must Get Out of Europe'', 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''Parliament Under Pressure'', 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''The Eurosceptic Reader'' (book review), 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''Our classless self-delusion: the old hierarchy may have gone but a new one has taken its place'', 1996, Andrew Adonis # ''This Time: Our Constitutional Revolution'', 1996, Andrew Adonis REFERENCES |
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