Lord Adonis stepped down as the Director of the Institute at the end of 2011 to pursue his public policy interests, specifically his passion for education. Previously, he had completed twelve years in government as a minister and special adviser, latterly as Secretary of State for Transport. Previously he was Minister for Schools, Head of the No.10 Policy Unit under Tony Blair, and senior No. 10 adviser on education, public services and constitutional reform.

Andrew pioneered many of the key public service reforms of the Blair/Brown governments. Within education, as adviser and then Minister, he developed the Academy programme, which established more than 200 independent state schools with dynamic non-state sponsors to replace weak and failing secondary schools. The academy model is now being extended across the school system by the coalition government.

At transport he led the development of the plan for a high-speed rail line from London to northern England and Scotland. Within a year of his arrival at the Department for Transport, a government policy statement was published including a detailed route plan for the first 100 miles from London to Birmingham, and associated economic, social and environmental assessments.

Before joining government, Andrew was a journalist and academic focusing on public policy and constitutional analysis. He was Public Policy Editor of the Financial Times, and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, where he gained his PhD in modern political history.

Andrew Adonis is author or co-author of several books, including Roy Jenkins: A Retrospective. He has been a member of the House of Lords since 2005 and Chairman of Progress, the New Labour Pressure Group.