Lord Adonis appointed as visiting professor

The post will be held jointly between the Mile End Group (MEG) and Queen Mary’s School of Politics and International Relations.

Lord Adonis worked as a journalist for the Financial Times and the Observer, before joining Tony Blair’s Number 10 policy staff in 1998 as education adviser, later becoming Head of the Policy Unit.

He went on to serve as Minister for Schools (May 2005 – October 2008), Minister of State for Transport (October 2008 – June 2009), and Secretary of State for Transport (June 2009 – May 2010).

Lord Adonis was also instrumental in the post-election negotiations between Labour and the Liberal Democrats in 2010. His book on the topic, ‘5 Days in May: The Coalition and Beyond’, was the subject of a ‘MEG Books’ event in the summer.

He also addressed the Group’s 88^th meeting on ‘Education, Education, Education’, and has taken questions from Queen Mary students as part of Dr Jon Davis and Visiting Professor John Rentoul’s New Labour in Government course. Lord Adonis also sits on MEG’s Advisory Board.

Dr Jon Davis director of MEG described Lord Adonis as "a giant of the contemporary political scene". "He will share his laser-like insight and incomparable drive with QM’s undergraduate and postgraduate students. We are honoured to welcome him to Queen Mary.”