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Theodore Agnew, Baron Agnew of Oulton

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Agnew of Oulton
DL
Studio portrait, c. 2017
Minister of State for Efficiency and Transformation
In office
14 February 2020 – 24 January 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byPhil Woolas[a]
Succeeded byJacob Rees-Mogg[b]
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School System
In office
28 September 2017 – 14 February 2020
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Boris Johnson
Preceded byThe Lord Nash
Succeeded byThe Baroness Berridge
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 October 2017
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1961-01-17) 17 January 1961 (age 63)
Norfolk, England
Political partyConservative
EducationBeeston Hall School
Rugby School

Theodore Thomas More Agnew, Baron Agnew of Oulton, DL (born 17 January 1961) is a British businessman, Conservative life peer, and former Minister of State at the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. He is the founder and current chairman of the board of Inspiration Trust, an academy trust in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Early life

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He was born in Norfolk, the 6th of 7 children, brought up in Oulton near Aylsham and educated at Beeston Hall School and Rugby School. After school, he worked in Canada and Australia between 1978 and 1988, initially in farming but later buying and selling a variety of businesses.[1]

Business career

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After working in Australia, he returned to the UK and founded Town & Country Assistance in 1989,[2] later becoming WNS Assistance.[3] He grew the business to annual gross revenues of £40 million. Selling it to Warburg Pincus in 2002, he became a co-founder of WNS Global Services. This company was floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006.[4]

In 2004, he became Chief Executive of Jubilee Managing Agency Ltd, a Lloyd's insurance business managing £130 million of premiums. He resigned in 2011 after it was sold to Ryan Specialty.[5][6]

Education and Community

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In 2006, he founded the Public Interest Foundation, a grant-giving charity primarily focused on education and communities.[7]

He was chairman of the Norfolk Community Foundation between 2007 and 2013.[8]

In 2006 he became a trustee of Policy Exchange, a Westminster-based think tank, and remained on the board until 2014.[9][2]

Agnew is the founder and chairman of the Inspiration Trust, a multi-academy trust that runs seventeen schools in East Anglia. The Trust was founded as the East Norfolk Academy Trust on 14 August 2012, changing its name to the Inspiration Trust on 27 January 2013.[10][11] He returned as chairman in 2022 after serving in the Government[10][12]

Agnew was a board member of the Education Policy Institute, a Westminster-based research institute, between 2015 and 2017.[13]

He was appointed a director of National Institute of Teaching in 2022. The aim of NIOT is to boost the quality of teaching and school leadership by carrying out research applying these insights to its professional development programmes, and sharing findings with the sector.[14][15][16]

Party career

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Theodore Agnew joined James Goldsmith's Referendum Party sometime before the 1997 General Election and attempted to get elected as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Ipswich constituency.

Agnew donated a total of £134,000 to the Conservative Party between 2007 and 2009.[17]

He endorsed Kemi Badenoch in the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[18]

Government

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Agnew was a non-executive board member of the Department for Education from 2010 to 2015. He was chairman of its Academies Board from 2013 to 2015.[19][2]

He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Ministry of Justice in July 2015 until September 2017.[19]

Education minister

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Agnew was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System, in the Department for Education, on 28 September 2017.[20][21] He had an interest in improving the cost base of schools.[22] He was created Baron Agnew of Oulton, of Oulton in the county of Norfolk, on 19 October 2017,[23] sitting with the Conservative Party group in the House of Lords.[24]

He had an interest in improving the cost base of schools and was responsible for the academies and free schools programs.[25]

Treasury/Cabinet Office Minister

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Agnew became Minister of State for Efficiency and Transformation jointly at the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury on 14 February 2020.

Agnew had a senior role in the UK's vaccination effort during the COVID-19 pandemic. He referred two companies to the PPE fast or VIP lane: Worldlink Resources, advised by former MP Brooks Newmark, which gained contracts for £258 million, and Uniserve, which gained an additional contract for £304 million.[26][27] In April 2021 he was accused of a conflict of interest over his shares in Public Group, a firm helping companies bid for government contracts.[28]

On 24 January 2022, Agnew resigned as Minister of State for Efficiency and Transformation after strongly criticising the government's failure to tackle billions of pounds worth of fraud in the Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan Scheme.[29] Agnew said "a combination of arrogance, indolence and ignorance" was "freezing the government machine". Agnew accused the government of making "schoolboy errors" through giving loans to more than 1,000 companies which were not trading when the pandemic happened.[30]

Honours

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Agnew was appointed a deputy lieutenant (DL) of Norfolk in 2013.[31] He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2015 New Year Honours "for services to education".[32][33][34]

Notes

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  1. ^ As Minister of State for the Treasury, 2010.
  2. ^ As Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency.

References

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  1. ^ George, Martin (9 August 2013). "Theodore Agnew from 11 plus misery and brothel cleaning to business success and a top job at the department for education". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "Who is Theodore Agnew? 7 facts about the new academies minister". Schools week. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  3. ^ "T&C now WNS". FleetNews. 24 June 2004. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  4. ^ "Warburg to bank 10x money on WNS float". Privateequityinternational.com. 29 August 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Governance and leadership of the Department for Education. Third Report of Session 2012–13" (PDF). House of Commons Education Committee. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Ryan Specialty Group, LLC Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire Specialist Lloyd's Insurer Jubilee Group Holdings Limited". House of Commons Education Committee. 18 May 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  7. ^ "THE PUBLIC INTEREST FOUNDATION - Charity 1114949". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  8. ^ "NORFOLK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION - Charity 05234236". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  9. ^ "POLICY EXCHANGE LIMITED - Company 04297905". Gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  10. ^ a b "About us – our trustees – Inspiration Trust". inspirationtrust.org. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  11. ^ "INSPIRATION TRUST – Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  12. ^ "Lord Agnew makes Inspiration Trust comeback as he returns to trustee role". Schools week. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  13. ^ "EDUCATION POLICY INSTITUTE - Company 04579498". Gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Our Board of Trustees". National Institute of Teaching. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Our Board of Directors". niot.org.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  16. ^ "SCHOOL-LED DEVELOPMENT TRUST - Company 13429740". Gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  17. ^ Kleinman, Mark (13 June 2015). "Gove Sparks Row Over Tory Donor Appointment". Sky News. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  18. ^ McFadden, Brendan (10 July 2022). "Michael Gove backs Kemi Badenoch to be the next Prime Minister". i. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  19. ^ a b "Lord Agnew – GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Lord Theodore Agnew". gov.uk. HM Government. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  21. ^ "New ministerial appointments September 2017: DfE and DIT". Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  22. ^ Staufenberg, Jess (8 October 2019). "Introducing... Lord Agnew". FE Week.
  23. ^ "No. 62088". The London Gazette. 24 October 2017. p. 19606.
  24. ^ "Lord Agnew of Oulton". House of Lords. Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  25. ^ "7 facts about new academies minister Theodore Agnew". schoolsweek.co.uk. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  26. ^ "LEAKED: The Conservative politicians who referred companies to the PPE 'VIP lane'". Good Law Project. 16 November 2021.
  27. ^ O'Neill, Sean; Waterfield, Bruno (29 January 2021). "Coronavirus: UK's nimble vaccine task force has left rivals trailing in its wake". The Times.
  28. ^ Hurley, James; Wright, Oliver (2 April 2021). "Minister Lord Agnew accused in conflict of interest row". The Times. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  29. ^ Payne, Sebastian; Thomas, Daniel (24 January 2022). "UK anti-fraud minister suits over 'lamentable' covid loan oversight". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  30. ^ "Conservative minister resigns in anger over Covid fraud". BBC News. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  31. ^ "Lieutenancy of Norfolk". The Gazette. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  32. ^ "No. 61092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N2.
  33. ^ "2015 New Year Honours List" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  34. ^ "No. 61320". The London Gazette. 11 August 2015. p. 14934.
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System
2017–2020 		Succeeded by
Vacant
Title last held by
Phil Woolas
as Minister of State for Borders and Immigration 		Minister of State for Efficiency and Transformation
2020–2022 		Succeeded byas Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Agnew of Oulton 		Followed by
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