A WEALTHY sponsor of one of Tony Blair’s flagship city academy schools has declined taking a seat in the House of Lords after protests at honours being offered to party donors and backers of government projects.
Barry Townsley, 59, the founder of a City stockbroking firm, blamed “media abuse” after withdrawing his name from a list of nominations for peerages. He had been put forward by Mr Blair to sit on Labour’s benches in the Lords.
The list of 28 names has been the subject of a battle of wills between Downing Street and the House of Lords Appointments Commission, the independent body that vets prospective peers, since it was disclosed by The Times last year.
A spokesman for Mr Townsley said yesterday: “Since the list was leaked he has been under attack from five or six newspapers going on and on about all sorts of things, and he has just got fed up with it. He just feels he would rather not be considered.”
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Mr Townsley sponsored Stockley Academy, which opened in Hillingdon, West London, in 2004, for about £1.5 million, and his withdrawal is a victory for the Lords Appointments Commission, which indicated its disapproval of some of the donors recommended for peerages by drawing out the process of scrutinising their suitability.