A multimillionaire Conservative donor and the backer of dozens of London academies has said Labour is now the party for people who care about education.
Lord Harris of Peckham, who sponsors the Harris Federation which runs 55 schools in London, said the “torch of change has passed”, and he is switching his support to Labour.
Lord Harris, who founded Carpetright, had been a longtime supporter of the Conservative Party and has donated more than one million pounds in the last 20 years.
In a letter to The Times he said: “At this election the party for people who care about education is, as it was a quarter of a century back, Labour. The torch of change has passed.”
He said Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, is “impressive”, adding: “She gets teaching, knows that expanding and improving the teacher workforce and tackling the epidemic of mental ill health among our young people are both vital, and will focus on making schools better, not fiddling with how well-run schools are operating.”
But he praised the “ambitious and determined” Michael Gove, who was education secretary between 2010 and 2014, during which time he expanded academies and introduced free schools, which are out of local authority control. Mr Gove is standing down after Thursday’s election.
Lord Harris said the “radical change” spearheaded by Mr Gove was central to bringing a “renewed focus on high standards, on evidence-led practice in teaching, and on the outcomes a school delivers rather than who runs it or how they like to teach it.”
But he added: “At this election it is no longer the Conservatives who are the party of high and rising standards, no longer the Conservatives putting our children and their schools front and centre. Despite a merry-go-round of ministers in recent years, they are out of ideas.”
Among the 55 academies run by the Harris Federation is the highly successful Harris Westminster, a sixth-form that cost £45 million and is supported by the fee-charging Westminster School. It takes disadvantaged but bright pupils from across London and sends dozens of pupils to leading universities each year.
