Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

By moving Adonis from his job at education, Brown has ensured the death of Blair’s best policy idea 

I’ve just done the Westminster Hour with John Rentoul of the Independent on Sunday and we agreed afterwards that there is one question we could not have answered. Why on earth did Andrew Adonis accept his new job in the Department of Transport?

The City Academies programme was his life. Anyone who knows him knew he went at it with monastic vocation. Every day was a battle against the system. Loosening the fist of government from schools was a task that beat Thatcher and Blair. For all Adonis efforts he about 85 City Academies up, against his target of 400. Given that there are 3,500 state schools, it shows what a slow, wearisome and uphill battle he was fighting. He has literally been dragged into the high court by the unions and their proxies who are trying to find ways to stop parental choice.

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