Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis

The Right Honourable The Lord Adonis PC
Secretary of State for Transport
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Geoff Hoon
Succeeded by	Philip Hammond
Minister of State for Transport
In office 3 October 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Rosie Winterton
Succeeded by	Sadiq Khan
Personal details
Born	22 February 1963 (1963-02-22)
Political party	Labour (1995–present)
Other political affiliations	Liberal Democrats (Before 1995)
Alma mater	Keble College, Oxford Christ Church, Oxford
Profession	Journalist

Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis PC (2009) (born Andreas Adonis, 22 February 1963) is a British academic, educationalist, journalist and Labour Life Peer, who served in HM Government as Secretary of State for Transport between 2009 to 2010.

Adonis was first appointed to the Labour Government following the 2005 general election, as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

He previously served, under the premiership of Tony Blair, as an education and constitution policy advisor at the Number 10 Policy Unit from 1998 to 2005, heading it from 2001 to 2003. Before joining the Government, Adonis was an academic at the University of Oxford, then a journalist at the Financial Times and The Observer.

Adonis is author or co-author of several books, including on studies of the English class system; the rise and fall of the "Poll Tax"; and the Victorian House of Lords, and has co-edited a collection of essays on Roy Jenkins. He was educated at Kingham Hill School and at Keble and Nuffield Colleges, Oxford.

Early life

Adonis is the son of an immigrant Greek Cypriot father Nicos, a commis waiter, and an English mother. His mother left the family when he was three and has had no communication with him since. Shortly thereafter, he was placed in care and lived in a council children's home until the age of 11, when Adonis was awarded a local education authority grant to attend Kingham Hill School.

After Kingham Hill School, Adonis went up to nearby Keble College, Oxford, graduating with a First-class BA in Modern History. At Christ Church he subsequently completed a DPhil on the British aristocracy of the late 19th century before being appointed to a Fellowship (in History and Politics) at Nuffield College.

From 1991 to 1996 he was an education and industry correspondent, and public policy editor at the Financial Times. In 1996, he moved to The Observer to work as a political columnist, leader writer and editor.

Political background

From 1987 until 1991 Adonis was an Oxford City Councillor for the Alliance/Liberal Democrats, representing the North Ward.

In 1994, he was selected by Westbury Constituency Liberal Democrats as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, but resigned after about 18 months, without having fought an election.^{[citation needed]} The next year, he joined the Labour Party. During the mid to late 1990s, he was politically active in Islington North, the constituency represented by the MP Jeremy Corbyn; he was selected to contest St George's Ward, Islington London Borough Council for Labour in 1998, but withdrew from the process when the education and constitution policy advisor post previously referred to was offered.

On 16 May 2005 he was created a Life Peer as Baron Adonis, of Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, elevation to membership of the House of Lords making possible his appointment as a Government Minister without ever being elected to Parliament.

Ministerial career

Following his appointment to the House of Lords, Adonis became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools and Learners in the Department for Education and Skills (later the Department for Children, Schools and Families). In this role, he strongly advocated the creation of additional academies, specialist schools and trust schools. He also encouraged state schools to adopt practices of the private sector and generally believed in giving individual schools more independence and autonomy from central government and the Local Education Authorities. His lack of support for traditional comprehensives made him unpopular with some Trade Union members and many on the Labour Party's left-wing. Adonis was popular with some Opposition politicians, in particular the Conservative (then) Education Spokesman, Michael Gove MP, who declared "We are on the same page as Andrew Adonis".

In October 2008, Adonis was reshuffled to the Department for Transport holding a Minister of State position. In May 2009 while reviewing potential cycle "super highways" with Kulveer Ranger and Boris Johnson the group had a 'near-death' experience 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'. He was promoted to Secretary of State for Transport in June 2009, serving until 11 May and the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister. James Macintyre, political editor of Prospect (magazine), argues that following 12 years at the heart of government Adonis emerged as Labour's most innovative public service reformer and is even tipped by some for a return to top-level politics in due course with a frontbench seat in Parliament.

Lord Adonis was involved in the 2010 post-election negotiations which led to the formation of the Coalition Government since no single party achieved an outright majority. He was reputed to prefer a Lib-Lab deal given his Liberal political background.

After a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government was formed, he served as Shadow Transport Secretary for only a few days before retiring from frontline politics, and was succeeded in that role by Sadiq Khan MP.

Post-ministerial career

In July 2010, Lord Adonis became Director of the Institute for Government (IfG), an independent charity with cross-party and Whitehall governance working to improve government effectiveness. Adonis is due to leave the Institute for Government (IfG) in January 2012 with a view to pursuing his public policy interests. President of the Independent Academies Association (IAA), Lord Adonis, in 2012, also became a Liveryman Honoris Causa of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers.

Personal life

Adonis is married to Kathryn Davies, once a student of his, with whom he has two young children named Edmund and Alice. The family lives in Islington, North London.

Selected publications

Books

• Andrew Adonis (Editor), Keith Thomas (Editor) (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 (Editor), Andrew Tyrie (Editor) (1989). Subsidiarity: no panacea. 
• Anthony Seldon (2004). Blair: no panacea. 
• Andrew Adonis (Editor), Tim Hames (Editor) (1994). The Thatcher-Reagan Decade in Perspective. 

Various New Statesman articles

• Ben Pimlott The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II – book review, 1996, Andrew Adonis
• Our progressives only look dead (prospects for a revival of progressivism in the United Kingdom), 1996, Andrew Adonis
• Christopher Booker and Richard North The Castle of Lies: Why Britain Must Get Out of Europe – book review, 1996, Andrew Adonis
• Anthony Barnett This Time: Our Constitutional Revolution – book review, 1996, Andrew Adonis

External links

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• www.thePeerage.com
• www.parliament.uk

Political offices
Preceded by Rosie Winterton	Minister of State for Transport 2008–2009	Succeeded by Sadiq Khan
Preceded by Geoff Hoon	Secretary of State for Transport 2009–2010	Succeeded by Philip Hammond
Preceded by Theresa Villiers	Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 2010	Succeeded by Sadiq Khan