Thread by @CLARESAMBROOK

1/
What’s going on with schools in England?

How come so many academy schools controllers are super-rich supporters of #Brexit, #BorisJohnson & Michael #Gove?

I’ve been investigating with @warwickmansell
Here’s what we’ve found:
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

2/
One man, aged 77, controls schools for 36,000 children. Philip Harris, worth £300m, has heavily funded the Tories. When he dies, control of “his” schools passes to his wife & sons. These are state-funded schools with no local democractic accountability.

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Big Tory donor Harris, given a peerage by Thatcher, backs #Brexit
He doesn’t like laws that restrict working hours,
he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme 2yrs ago:

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For fun, HARRIS and his wife own world-class showjumping horses with their friends the Kirkhams. Lord (Graham) Kirkham, who made his billion in sofas, is another big Conservative donor given a peerage by the Conservatives.

5/
In Tory leadership battle Lord Philip Harris handed:
£20,000 to Dominic Raab
£10,000 to Michael Gove.
£30,000 to the man he’d once called too lazy and unpredictable to make a good Prime Minister: Boris Johnson.

more here by @warwickmansell & me opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

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The same men — #Gove & #Cummings — who devised #Brexit also commanded a massive expansion of #academy schools, handing control of many of our children’s schools to big Tory funders.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

7/
A Department for Education press release promised “freedom” and “empowerment”, language Gove and Cummings would recycle to push #Brexit.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

8/
When Gove, Cummings and their private equity collaborators took control at the Department for Education in May 2010 there were 203 academies. By September 2012 there were 2,309 – a tenfold increase.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

9/ In 2012, Conservative MP Richard Bacon described the lack of accountability in #academies as “mind-blowing”. He said academy chains “could hide something by taking a little bit from several pots” and “parents would never know.”

10/ When Cameron sacked Gove as education secretary,
according to the Guardian, #Cummings blogged:
“We got away with subverting
every W/hall & No10 process,
& it took DC 4 yrs to surrender.”
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

11/ Today almost 9,000 of #academies operate outside of their democratically-accountable local authorities. The schools’ combined assets in 2017-18 totalled nearly £60 billion. Huge transfer of power from public to private hands.

opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

12/ JON MOYNIHAN, venture capitalist, handed:
£100,000 to #BorisJohnson leadership campaign
£120,000 to Vote Leave, and another £135,000 to the Conservatives since 2002
Chaired Vote Leave Finance Committee, & Vote Leave’s Campaign Committee.

13/
Moynihan is also Founding director of a company calling itself "Parents and Teachers for Excellence" 🤨

It's not what you'd call a grass roots org

Some supporters:
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

14/ JON MOYNIHAN wants to shrink the state, thinks austerity is just pretend:
“All this stuff about austerity is insane political jousting that I just don’t understand”.

Here's one of his homes— it sold for $6.7 million.

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DAVID ROSS controls a chain of 34 academy schools educating 13,000 pupils.
Controversial #CarphoneWarehouse founder worth £668 million , he’s mates with #DavidCameron.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

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Controverial #CarphoneWarehouse mate of #DavidCameron DAVID ROSS was even tipped to run #Ofsted !
Sometimes he drops in on “his” academy schools by helicopter (reminder: these schools funded by the state, but outside of local democratic control—Ross does the controlling)

17/ Ross has donated heavily to the Conservatives,
#Brexit backer, donated heavily to #BorisJohnson,
colourful life (try Google)
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

18/ Irvine Laidlaw, 76, one of Scotland’s richest, gave Tories biggest single sum-£3 million–
“Admitted taking part in orgies with prostitutes, charging £3,000 a night, at his Monaco tax haven home”. Controls 6 schools in England— 4,000 pupils.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

19/
Gove put THEODORE AGNEW (insurance multi-millionaire) on Dept Education board in 2010, & Min Justice board in 2015.

Agnew, former trustee of Conservative think-tank founded the 13-school, 6,600-pupil Inspiration Trust in 2012.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

20/ Agnew says he’s “like a pig out hunting for truffles when it comes to finding waste in schools”

In Sept 2019, Tories put him in charge of “further education provider market, including quality and improvement.”

Agnew has donated £162,250 to the Conservatives since 2007

21/
#Brexiteer Sir Paul Marshall, gave £100,000 to #VoteLeave
• Chairs Ark Schools— 38 schools, 26,000 pupils.
• He’s a hedge funder worth £590 million.
• Gove put Marshall on Dept Education board.
• Marshall funded Gove.

22/ Lord John Nash, 69, is a Conservative businessman who oversaw the #academies programme, as an (unelected obvs) govt minister.

Chaired British Venture Capital Association & private healthcare firm Care UK, one of the NHS’s biggest contractors.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

23/ Lord Nash & his wife, Caroline, a former stockbroker, oversee Future Academies, a chain of seven schools with 3,800 pupils. They've given almost £400,000 to the Conservatives.
What happens when local communities resist them?

Read on:
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

24/
Thanks to this under-the-radar transfer of power, public control of 9,000 English state-funded schools is already lost.
Some of Britain’s richest businessmen, who've collectively paid millions to the Conservatives, find themselves in command.
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

25/
this work is by @warwickmansell & @CLARESAMBROOK edited by @Rebecca_Omonira for @SHINEreports & @openDemocracy
opendemocracy.net/en/shine-a-lig…

26/
@warwickmansell has been digging into education matters for 20yrs. . You can read more of his stunning disclosures & help fund his work here
educationuncovered.co.uk