13 May 2005
The largest teachers' union backed the controversial choice of Andrew Adonis as an education minister despite his appointment having upset several Labour MPs.
A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers said it was 'looking forward to working with him'. However, the union did admit it had not had 'a lot of contact with him in the past'.
Adonis was given a peerage by Prime Minister Tony Blair to enable him to be appointed junior minister at the Department for Education and Skills.
Despite only now being given a formal ministerial post, the steam train enthusiast has been closely linked to Labour initiatives on education over the past few years.
He was responsible for the proposal of replacing failing schools with city academies, eventually rejected by the education department. He is said to be an enthusiastic proponent of more private sector funding in the state sector.
Such ideas and his closeness to the prime minister, as former head of the Downing Street policy unit, have made him a hate figure among many Labour MPs.
Adonis, who was a member of the SDP in his teens, will become Labour's spokesman on schools in the upper House.
The government has a tough agenda to push through, dealing with such issues as failing schools, special needs and specialist schools.
His appointment had an immediate fallout, with another education special adviser, Dan Corry, apparently claiming he would quit if Adonis was appointed.
Corry, who was working for Education Secretary Ruth Kelly on secondment, is expected to resume his role as executive director of the New Local Government Network.
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