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Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Adonis
PC
Official portrait, 2019
Chairman of the European Movement
In office
7 March 2021 – 14 December 2022
PresidentThe Lord Heseltine
Vice PresidentThe Lord Clarke of Nottingham
The Baroness Quin
Preceded byStephen Dorrell
Succeeded byMike Galsworthy
Vice Chairman of the European Movement
In office
15 January 2019 – 7 March 2021
PresidentThe Lord Heseltine
Vice PresidentThe Lord Clarke of Nottingham
The Baroness Quin
Preceded byRichard Corbett
Succeeded byRichard Wilson
Secretary of State for Transport
In office
5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byGeoff Hoon
Succeeded byPhilip Hammond
Minister of State for Transport
In office
3 October 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byRosie Winterton
Succeeded bySadiq Khan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools and Learners[1]
In office
10 May 2005 – 3 October 2008
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Gordon Brown
Preceded byThe Lord Filkin
Succeeded bySarah McCarthy-Fry
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
23 May 2005
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Andreas Adonis

(1963-02-22)22 February 1963(age 61)
Hampstead,London,England[2]
Political partyLabour(1995–2015, since 2017)
Other political
affiliations		Liberal Democrats(1988–95)
SDP(1985–88)
Spouse
Kathryn Davies
​
​
(m.1994;div.2015)​
Children2
Alma materKeble College, Oxford(BA)
Christ Church, Oxford(DPhil)
ProfessionJournalist
WebsiteOfficial website

Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis,PC(bornAndreas Adonis;22 February 1963)[3]is a BritishLabour Partypolitician and journalist who served inHM Governmentfor five years in theBlair ministryand theBrown ministry.He served asSecretary of State for Transportfrom 2009 to 2010, and asChairman of the National Infrastructure Commissionfrom 2015 to 2017. He was Chair of theEuropean Movement,from March 2021 until December 2022[4]having previously served as Vice-Chairman from 2019 to 2021. He is currently a columnist forThe New European.[5]

Adonis began his career as anacademicat theUniversity of Oxford,before becoming a journalist at theFinancial Timesand laterThe Observer.[3][6][7]Adonis was appointed by Prime MinisterTony Blairto be an advisor at theNumber 10 Policy Unit,specialising in constitutional and educational policy, in 1998. He was later promoted to become the Head of the Policy Unit from 2001 until being created alife peerin 2005, when he was appointedMinister of State for EducationinHM Government.[3][6]He remained in that role whenGordon Brownbecame Prime Minister in 2007, before becomingMinister of State for Transportin 2008. In 2009, he was promoted tothe CabinetasTransport Secretary,a position he held until 2010.[8]

Adonis has worked for a number ofthink tanks,is a board member ofPolicy Networkand is the author or co-author of several books, including several studies of theBritish class system,the rise and fall of theCommunity Charge,and theVictorianHouse of Lords.He has also co-edited a collection of essays onRoy Jenkins.Like Jenkins, Adonis speaks withrhotacism.His latest book,Ernest Bevin: Labour's Churchill,is a biography of the Labour politicianErnest Bevinwhom, alongside Tony Blair, Adonis regards as a source of inspiration for the modern Labour Party.

Adonis is a strong supporter and advocate of theEuropean Union(EU) and a vocal opponent ofBrexit.Following the2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum,he became a key campaigner against the result of the referendum on British departure from the EU, supporting thePeople's Vote.

Family and education[edit]

Adonis'sGreek Cypriotfather, Nikos, emigratedCyprusas a teenager, becoming a waiter inLondon,where he met Adonis's English mother.[9]His mother left the family when he was three, and she has had no communication with him since.[9]Shortly thereafter Adonis and his sister were placed in care, because their father was working long hours and was not able to cope with sole parental responsibilities. Adonis lived in a council children's home until the age of 11, when he was awarded alocal education authoritygrant to attendKingham Hill School,a boarding school inOxfordshire.[10]

Adonis studied atKeble College, Oxford,where he graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern History in 1984.[11]He pursued further studies atOxfordreceiving adoctoratewith a thesis entitled,The political role of the British peerage in the Third Reform Act system, c. 1885–1914atChrist Church,before being elected afellowin History and Politics atNuffield College.[3][10]

From 1991 to 1996, Adonis was an education and industry correspondent at theFinancial Times,eventually becoming their public policy editor.[3]In 1996, he moved toThe Observerto work as a political columnist, leader writer and editor.[3]

Early political career[edit]

From 1987 until 1991, Adonis served as anOxford City Councillorfor theSocial Democratic Partyand later theLiberal Democrats,representing theNorth Ward.[3]In 1994, he was selected by the Liberal Democrats as theirprospective parliamentary candidatefor theWestbury constituency,but he resigned after 18 months. In the following year he joined theLabour Party.[12]

During the mid-to-late 1990s he was politically active for Labour inIslington North,the constituency represented byJeremy Corbyn,and was selected as Labour candidate to contest St George's Ward forIslington London Borough Councilin 1998.[citation needed]He withdrew from the process before the election, however, upon being offered a position in theNumber 10 Policy Unitas a constitutional and educational policy advisor in 1997. He remained in this role until 2001, when he was promoted to become Head of the Policy Unit.[citation needed]

On 16 May 2005, he was created alife peeras "Baron Adonis",ofCamden Townin theLondon Borough of Camden,[13]making it possible for him to serve as agovernment minister,representing it in theHouse of Lords.[14]

HM Government[edit]

Adonis atCouncil House, Bristolin 2011

Lord Adonis became theParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Educationin theDepartment for Education and Skills,which was later renamed theDepartment for Children, Schools and Families.He was closely involved in theLondon Challenge.[15]

Having been the architect of theacademies policyin the Policy Unit, Adonis was also able to be the driving force in Government behind the programme, which replaced failing and under-performing comprehensive schools with all-ability, independently managed academies, run on a not-for-profit basis. By the time he left the Department in October 2008, 133 academies were open and 300 more were in the pipeline. Research by theDepartment of Educationsuggests that performance at these early "sponsored" academies increased more quickly than in similar schools in the mainstream sector, however these figures do not take into account underlying factors which affect which schools are likely to become academies.[16]Policies on academies by Adonis were praised by someoppositionpoliticians, including the thenConservativeeducation spokesmanMichael Gove,who in 2008 said, "We are on the same page as Andrew Adonis."[17]

He encouragedstate schoolsto adopt practices of theprivate sectorand generally believed in giving individual schools more independence and autonomy from central government and thelocal education authorities,although he voted against schools having more independent authority in the houses of parliament in 2006. His criticism of under-performingcomprehensivesmade him unpopular with some trade union members and some on the Labour Party's left-wing. In 2006 Adonis supported the conversion of some independent schools under financial duress into state academies, portrayed at the time as a new style ofdirect grant grammar schoolsalthough not selective.[18]

AsTony Blair's head of policy, Adonis was regarded as the architect oftuition feesin 2004 – a policy he criticised and disowned 13 years later.[19]

Having initially kept his position whenGordon BrownbecamePrime Minister,Adonis was reshuffled to theDepartment for Transporton 3 October 2008, to becomeMinister of State.In May 2009, while reviewing potential cycle "super highways" withKulveer Rangerand then-London MayorBoris Johnson,the group had a narrow escape when a passing lorry's back door "suddenly flew open, dragged a parked car into the street and smashed into another – just feet from the group".[20]

On 5 June 2009, Adonis was promoted to theCabinetasSecretary of State for Transportand was sworn a member of thePrivy Council.In this role, he pioneered the plan forHigh Speed 2,the proposed high-speed railway line fromLondontoBirminghamand the north of England. The plan was published shortly before the2010 election,and has since been adopted and taken forward by subsequent governments, with some changes to the proposed route. In July 2015, Adonis was appointed a non-executive director to HS2 Board Ltd.[21]

Adonis planned and announced the electrification of theGreat Western Main LinefromLondon PaddingtontoBristol,CardiffandSwansea,and the electrification of lines inNorth West EnglandfromManchestertoLiverpooland Manchester toPreston.This electrification programme, except for the Cardiff to Swansea section of the Great Western, was taken forward by the coalition government.[citation needed]

Adonis was a key figure in the aftermath of the2010 general election,which produced ahung parliament.He was reputed to favour aLib–Lab dealand, given his SDP background, was a member of Labour's negotiating team thatattempted to form an administrationwith theLiberal Democrats.After theLiberal Democrats formed a coalition government with the Conservative Party,Adonis stepped down from frontline politics.[22]

Adonis later returned to active politics in 2012, as part ofEd Miliband'sShadow cabinetreshuffle. He worked with former Shadow Business SecretaryChuka Umunnaon crafting Labour's industrial strategy, and previously took up the role of Shadow Minister for Infrastructure in the House of Lords,[23]and overseeing the Armitt Review looking at future infrastructure plans for the Labour Party.[24]

Subsequent career[edit]

In July 2010, Adonis became the director of theInstitute for Government,an independent charity with cross-party support andWhitehallgovernance working to improve government effectiveness.[23]Adonis left the Institute for Government in January 2012, to become Chair ofProgress,an internal Labour Party organisation.[25][26]Having been appointed President of the Independent Academies Association, in 2012, Adonis was also admitted as aLiverymanHonoris Causaof theWorshipful Company of Haberdashers,one of the major charitable promoters ofacademies.[27]

Lord Adonis is aTrusteeofTeach First,the charity which recruits graduates to teach in state schools, as well as a Trustee of the vocational education charityEdge,and aGovernorof the Baker-Dearing Trust, which supports the establishment of University Technical Colleges, technical schools for 14- to 18-year-olds.[28][29]He has been a Director of RM Plc since October 2011. His book on education reform –Education, Education, Education– was published byBitebackin September 2012.[30]In November 2014, he was appointed visiting professor atKing's College London.[31]

Adonis considered standing[32]to be Labour's candidate forMayor of Londonin2016,but ended his putative campaign in February 2015, endorsingTessa Jowell.[33]

In October 2015, he resigned the Labour Party whip in the House of Lords to sit as anon-affiliated Peerand lead a newly createdNational Infrastructure Commission(NIC). However, he resigned from the NIC in December 2017 because of HM Government's approach toBrexit,saying the UK was "hurtling towards the EU's emergency exit with no credible plan for the future of British trade and European co-operation".[34] Adonis said he planned to oppose "relentlessly" the government'sEuropean Union (Withdrawal) Billin the House of Lords. In his resignation letter, he wrote that, as well as Brexit, the recent decision to end theInterCity East Coastrail franchisethree years early, at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds, would also have forced him to quit. He also claimed that "taking us back into Europe will become the mission of our children's generation".[35]On 15 April 2018 Adonis attended the launch event of thePeople's Vote,a campaign group calling for a public vote on the finalBrexitdeal between the UK and the European Union.[36]

In 2018, Adonis also became a weekly columnist forThe New European,a newly created newspaper which campaigned against Brexit and supported the People's Vote campaign.

In the2019 European Parliament election,Adonis was second on Labour'sparty listforSouth West England[37]but was not elected. Labour's share of the vote was 6.5% (a fall of 7.3% relative to the 2014 result) and the party lost its only MEP in the region.

Adonis was a participant at the 30 May - 2 June 2019Bilderberg MeetingatMontreux,Switzerland.[38]

Adonis advocated a rapid reopening of UK schools during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[39]

In May 2021, Adonis called for Tony Blair to return to frontline politics in the wake of a poll being released showing Labour 15% behind theConservatives.[40]

Personal life[edit]

Adonis was formerly married to Kathryn Davies,[3]who had been a student of his;[9]the couple had two children.[10]Adonis and Davies divorced in 2015. In a profile in theEvening Standardfrom May 2019, the journalistJulian Gloverreported that Adonis wasgay.[41]Adonis would indeedcome outas gay in an exclusive interview with theinewspaper later that year in October 2019.[42]

Bibliography[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Andrew Adonis; Keith Thomas, eds. (2004).Roy Jenkins: A Retrospective.
  • Andrew Adonis,Stephen Pollard(1997).A Class Act: Myth of Britain's Classless Society.
  • David Butler, Andrew Adonis &Tony Travers(1994).Failure in British government: the politics of the poll tax.
  • Andrew Adonis (1993).Making Aristocracy Work: The Peerage and the Political System in Britain.
  • Andrew Adonis;Andrew Tyrie,eds. (1989).Subsidiarity: no panacea.
  • Andrew Adonis;Tim Hames,eds. (1994).The Thatcher-Reagan Decade in Perspective.
  • Andrew Adonis (2012).Education Education Education: Reforming England's Schools.
  • Adonis, Andrew (2013).5 Days in May: The Coalition and Beyond.Biteback Publishing.ISBN978-1849545662.
  • Will Hutton,Andrew Adonis (2018).Saving Britain: How We Must Change To Prosper In Europe.Abacus: Little, Brown Book Group, London.ISBN978-1408711224.
  • Andrew Adonis, ed. (2018).Half In Half Out: Prime Ministers on Europe.Biteback Publishing.ISBN978-1785904349.
  • Andrew Adonis (2020).Ernest Bevin: Labour's Churchill.Biteback Publishing.ISBN978-1785905988.

Articles[edit]

  • Our progressives only look dead(prospects for a revival of progressivism in the United Kingdom), 1996, Andrew Adonis

Book reviews[edit]

Year Review article Work(s) reviewed
2014 Adonis, Andrew (21 November 2014). "Boney's bungles".New Statesman.143(5237): 45. Roberts, Andrew(2014).Napoleon the Great.London: Allen Lane.
  • Ben PimlottThe Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II– book review, 1996, Andrew Adonis
  • Christopher BookerandRichard NorthThe Castle of Lies: Why Britain Must Get Out of Europe– book review, 1996, Andrew Adonis
  • Anthony BarnettThis Time: Our Constitutional Revolution– book review, 1996, Andrew Adonis
  • Shirley WilliamsClimbing the Bookshelves: the Autobiography– book review, 2009, Andrew Adonis
  • Roy HattersleyDavid Lloyd George: the Great Outsider– book review, 2010, Andrew Adonis
  • David Laws22 Days in May: The Birth of the Lib Dem-Conservative Coalition– book review, 2010, Andrew Adonis
  • Chris BowersNick Clegg: the Biography– book review, 2011, Andrew Adonis

References[edit]

  1. ^Schools (2005–07)
  2. ^"Index entry".FreeBMD.ONS.Retrieved18 April2018.
  3. ^abcdefghWill Woodward (28 October 2005)."The Guardian profile: Andrew Adonis".The Guardian.London.Retrieved30 March2007.
  4. ^"Statement on the Chair of the European Movement".
  5. ^"Register of Interests for Lord Adonis - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament".members.parliament.uk.Retrieved26 February2021.
  6. ^ab"Department for Education and Skills Ministerial Team".Department for Education and Skills.Archivedfrom the original on 1 April 2007.Retrieved30 March2007.
  7. ^"Adviser Adonis made a minister".BBC News.10 May 2005.Retrieved30 March2007.
  8. ^High Speed Rail – Command Paper.Department for Transport, 11 March 2010,ISBN9780101782722
  9. ^abcWinnett, Robert (12 June 2005)."Mother: why I left minister as a toddler".The Times.London.Retrieved30 March2007.
  10. ^abcBen Hall (17 January 2007)."This is not a wacky utopia".Financial Times.Retrieved30 March2007.
  11. ^The Record,page 21. Keble College, 1984
  12. ^"Profile: Andrew Adonis".BBC News.9 May 2005.Retrieved22 April2007.
  13. ^"No. 57644".The London Gazette.19 May 2005. p. 6547.
  14. ^"Adonis will now be accountable".The Independent.London. 12 May 2005.Retrieved3 April2007.[dead link]
  15. ^"Implementing the London Challenge"(PDF).Institute for Government.Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Retrieved5 July2015.
  16. ^Academies and maintained schools: what do we know?,Fullfact.org. 26 May 2017.
  17. ^"Academy fears on Adonis reshuffle".BBC News.6 October 2008.Retrieved15 June2009.
  18. ^Garner, Richard (19 October 2006)."Ministers in secret talks to bring back direct grant schools".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 27 July 2018.Retrieved26 July2018.
  19. ^"I put up tuition fees. It's now clear they have to be scrapped".The Guardian.7 July 2017.Retrieved29 December2017.
  20. ^Helm, Toby (23 May 2009)."Boris Johnson's 'near-death experience' with lorry caught on camera".The Guardian.London.Retrieved26 February2010.
  21. ^Lord Adonis joins board of HS2 project,The Guardian,16 July 2015.
  22. ^Watts, Robert (16 May 2010)."Adonis devised original coalition plan".The Times.London.
  23. ^ab"Brexit is a 'nationalist spasm': Lord Adonis resigns as infrastructure tsar".The Guardian.30 December 2017.Retrieved20 July2021.
  24. ^"Armitt Review"(PDF).Retrieved27 January2023.
  25. ^Institute For Government Appoints Rt Hon Peter Riddell As Director.instituteforgovernment.org.uk. 17 November 2011
  26. ^Andrew Adonis becomes new Progress chairArchived18 March 2012 at theWayback Machine.Progressonline.org.uk (11 January 2012). Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  27. ^iaa.uk.net.http:// iaa.uk.net(5 July 2013). Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  28. ^Our peopleArchived1 May 2012 at theWayback Machine.Edge.co.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  29. ^Our People.teachfirst.org.uk
  30. ^Education, Education, Education ReformingArchived17 October 2013 at theWayback Machine.bitebackpublishing
  31. ^kcl.ac.uk.King's College London. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  32. ^Wigmore, Tim (30 April 2015)."Andrew Adonis:" The tale of two cities is the reality of London "".New Statesman.London.Retrieved6 May2016.
  33. ^Murphy, Joe (19 February 2015)."I won't run for mayor – Dame Tessa Jowell is the best candidate, says Lord Adonis".London Evening Standard.London.Retrieved6 May2016.
  34. ^"Adonis quits role with Brexit attack".BBC. 29 December 2017.
  35. ^"Lord Adonis quits government role in stinging letter".BBC News.29 December 2017.Retrieved29 December2017.
  36. ^Staff writer (15 April 2018)."Brexit: 'People's Vote' campaign group launched".BBC News.Retrieved17 April2018.
  37. ^Foster, Matt (19 April 2019)."Anti-Brexit peer Lord Adonis among candidates as Labour unveils MEP hopefuls".Politicshome.Retrieved21 April2019.
  38. ^"Participants".bilderbergmeetings.org.Retrieved30 May2019.
  39. ^Whiteman, Paul (1 May 2020)."Mother: Keyboard commentators should think before they type".National Association of Head Teachers.Retrieved18 May2020.
  40. ^Adonis, Andrew [@Andrew_Adonis] (14 May 2021)."Time for Blair"(Tweet).Retrieved31 August2021– viaTwitter.
  41. ^Glover, Julian (8 May 2019)."Andrew Adonis: We must spell it out now, Labour is a Remain party".Evening Standard.London.Retrieved8 May2019.
  42. ^Butterworth, Benjamin (23 October 2019)."Lord Adonis opens up about 'difficult' decision to come out as gay".The i.Retrieved8 August2022.

External links[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by Minister of State for Education
2005–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for Transport
2008–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Transport
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
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