Sir Bruce Liddington (1949 – 28 July 2020) was the schools commissioner in 2006 under

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

's Government. He came from a poor area of

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...

and did his degree in English at

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

, and a PGCE in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. He started his teaching career in

Conisbrough Conisbrough () is a town within the City of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is roughly midway between Doncaster and Rotherham, and is built alongside the River Don, South Yorkshire, River Don at . It has a ward population (Conisbrou ...

, and rose to headteacher at

Northampton School for Boys Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is an 11–18 boys secondary school in Northampton, England. It was founded as Northampton Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey, Mayor of Northampton. Years 7 to 11 are boys-only, while sixth form classes ar ...

which he improved then and changed its status from a LEA school to a

grant maintained school Grant-maintained schools or GM schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government. Some of these schools had selective ad ...

. For this he received a knighthood. He moved to the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

advising on the details of converting to academy status. He was employed as a senior civil servant responsible for the roll out of academies. Liddington became boss of the academy sponsor

E-ACT E-ACT is a multi-academy trust responsible for 38 Academy (English school), academies in England. Over 93% are now rated as “Good” or better by Ofsted. As an academy trust, it is an exempt charity regulated by the Department for Education. ...

, outlining his mission 'to improve the lot of the most-deprived children'. Liddington was disgraced and resigned from the chain of academy schools following the disclosure of his overseeing its culture of extravagant expense claims, irregularities, and trips to prestige venues funded by public money, which the ''

Times Educational Supplement ''TES'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a British weekly trade magazine aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity th ...

'' compared to

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

in the US education system. Liddington died on 28 July 2020, at the age of 70.

Early background

His mother worked in a shoe factory and his father was a stonemason, he attended Wellingborough Grammar School. In his gap year he worked in a London

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

as an unqualified teacher.

Teaching career

He did his first degree in English at Queen Mary College, and moved on to do a PGCE in Cambridge where he listened to a lecture by the prominent chief education officer of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, Sir Alec Clegg. Clegg believed schools should pursue "the education of the spirit … the child's loves and hates … hopes and fears", and Liddington who said in a ''Guardian'' interview "I've always been attracted to kids who've had a hard time in life", was inspired to work in the deprived mining community of

. He found the low levels of aspiration that he witnessed frustrating. After three years he went to the states to study for a masters.

References

Education in England Knights Bachelor 1949 births 2020 deaths {{England-academic-bio-stub