On Friday evening an undercover reporter met Des Smith, a council member of the trust that oversees the government’s city academies programme, in a restaurant in London.
The reporter, posing as an assistant to ‘Malcolm Johnson’, a fictional businessman interested in sponsoring a college, raised the subject of whether honours were given in return for donations.
This was the ensuing conversation:
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Reporter: The other day I was talking to Malcolm’s wife Sarah on the phone and she was saying that she thinks that getting involved in academies — she’s read anyway — that lots of people seem to get some kind of honour or recognition for . . .
Des Smith: Yes.
Reporter: For doing that? And she said, oh, do you think that might be a likely thing that might happen to Malcolm if he got involved? I said, I really don’t know. I did some research on my own, and it seemed that lots of people who do get involved are honoured. Is that like a typical kind of thing?
Smith: Yes.
Reporter: Why’s that?
Smith: If Malcolm, because basically . . . the prime minister’s office would recommend someone like Malcolm for an OBE, a CBE or a knighthood.
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Reporter: Really? Just for getting involved with the academies?
Smith: Just for, yes, they call them “services to education”.
Reporter: Oh right.
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Smith: Yes.
Reporter: I wasn’t sure. I said I’m not sure . . .
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Smith: Yeah, so if he did one or two (academies), we would certainly start nominating Malcolm.
Reporter: And who does the nominating?
Smith: Well . . .
Reporter: Does Cyril’s office (Sir Cyril Taylor, head of the trust overseeing academies) do it?
Smith: I nom . . . I would say to Cyril’s office that we’ve now got to start writing to the prime minister’s office.
Yesterday Taylor denied any wrongdoing and said: “I have never said to any prospective or existing sponsor that if they sponsor an academy that I would recommend them for an honour.”
Smith: Yeah, what I’d do is, we’d get three or four people to nominate.
Reporter: Oh that’s brilliant. I think she’d be quite excited actually, at the prospect . . .
Smith: Oh yeah, yeah, what happens is it’s a nomination and then the prime minister would write to somebody and say we’re thinking of nominating you, but we’ll choose the honour.
Reporter: Yes.
Smith: It will either be an OBE, a CBE or a knighthood.
Reporter: And presumably they (Downing Street) liaise with Cyril quite heavily? He’s the head of it, isn’t he?
Smith: Yeah. He’s so important.
Reporter: . . . I didn’t realise it was as straightforward as that. Sponsoring five academies was . . . it’s £10m.
Smith: Well, if you put in £10m in total into education then it’s called “services to education”.
Reporter: Yeah. So inevitably . . .
Smith: Yes.
Reporter: . . . Obviously Cyril’s got two knighthoods.
Smith: Yes, he’s been to the Queen twice . . .
Reporter: So it seemed to be a typical thing. Almost (from) the moment you, perhaps, have it approved, the moment you promise the money, you . . .
Smith: You start getting considered.
Reporter: Yes.
Smith: But also what would be great is, you could go to the House of Lords and get a lord . . . become a lord.
Reporter: Really?
Smith: Oh yeah. That’s the thing I’d be most interested in.
Reporter: Really?
Smith: Oh yes. Not a knighthood.
Reporter: How does that work?
Smith: You get nominated to be a member of the House of Lords.
Reporter: What, if you get involved in city academies?
Smith: Oh yes . . .
Reporter: Oh my goodness, that’s amazing.
Smith: If you’re there long enough, it’s not immediate, but you know, obviously, you’d be in the . . .
Reporter: So, if you invested in five city academies over, say, a 10-year period, it would be . . .
Smith: A certainty.
Reporter: You’d be certain of getting . . .
Smith: Well, almost certainly. Basically if a Labour government (is) there. What we’ve got to keep in touch with . . . is the Conservatives because this guy . . .
Reporter: Cameron?
Smith: . . . He’s so good. I mean, you’re a PR person, you must like him.