Andrew Adonis

Andrew Adonis was Downing Street policy adviser and later education minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, 1998-2008.

Thursday

Andrew Adonis

The case for state boarding schools

My philosophy of education has always been simple and I believe it unites right and left: namely, what wise parents would wish for their child, so the community should wish for all children. It’s a paraphrase of R.H. Tawney, who — being a socialist — said ‘state’ rather than ‘community’. I much prefer ‘community’ since it is an injunction to us all, including to local government, charities and social organisations, as well as to the state and its servants. I feel this intensely personally, since the community — in the form of a local authority, Camden council in London — was my legal parent for the whole of my childhood.

Thursday

Andrew Adonis

Europe’s panic: what’s behind their vaccine meltdown?

39 min listen

As the EU threatens a vaccine export ban, is their blind panic a sign of incoming crisis? (1:15) Plus, will a new Instagram account for teenage girls to report sexual assault restart a battle of the sexes? (18:05) And finally, what is it like to be one of the last British babies born under the Raj? (28:30)With Labour peer Andrew Adonis; Spectator contributors Matthew Lynn, Julie Bindel, Melanie McDonagh and Brigid Keenan; and historian Alex von Tunzelmann.Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Cindy Yu, Max Jeffery and Sam Russell.

Wednesday

Andrew Adonis

Andrew Adonis: how Ernest Bevin was Labour’s Churchill

43 min listen

In this week's books podcast I'm joined by Alan Johnson and Andrew Adonis to talk about the latter's new biography of a neglected great of British political history: Ernest Bevin: Labour's Churchill. He was, in Andrew's estimation, the man who did most to save Europe from Stalin. So why has Bevin been so forgotten? In what way was he Churchillian? What would he have made of the current state of the Labour party? And will we ever see his like again?

Friday

Andrew Adonis

Lord Adonis’s resignation letter – full text

Andrew Adonis, the former Labour Transport Secretary and newly non-affiliated peer, has quit as the government's infrastructure tsar, slamming the Prime Minister's Brexit direction in the process. Here's the full text: Dear Prime Minister, The hardest thing in politics is to bring about lasting change for the better, and I believe in co-operation across parties to achieve it. In this spirit I was glad to accept reappointment last year as Chair of the independent National Infrastructure Commission, when you also reaffirmed your support for HS2, which will help overcome England's north-south divide when it opens in just eight years time. I would like to thank you for your courtesy in our personal dealings.

Sunday

Andrew Adonis

Three lessons for Mr Gove, by Andrew Adonis

The Spectator's Schools Revolution conference is being held on Tuesday next week. One of the special guest speakers, Lord Adonis, here gives the present government three lessons gained from his experience of the academies programme. Other speakers include Michael Gove, Michelle Rhee and Barbara Bergstrom, all of whom will take questions from the floor. There are still tickets available. Last year Mossbourne Academy in Hackney celebrated one of the most remarkable achievements ever recorded by a state comprehensive school with a largely low-income intake. It got eight students into Cambridge and another 70 into Russell Group universities. If every comprehensive was in this league, social mobility would take off and England’s class barriers come crashing down.

Wednesday

Andrew Adonis

Let’s move the Lords to Manchester

Andrew Adonis, one of the policy brains of the Blair government and now seated in the House of Lords, has a letter in tomorrow's edition of the Spectator responding to Neil O'Brien's cover article of last week. In it, Adonis suggests one way that the political class could help purge the Londonitis from its collective system: move the House of Lords to Greater Manchester. Here's the full text of the letter, for CoffeeHousers: Sir, As Neil O’Brien rightly says, London is New York, Washington and LA rolled into one, which is unhealthy for our national politics. So I have a serious suggestion.