MmmmNews Politics Michael Gove The schools crusade that links Michael Gove to Rupert MurdochThe education secretary has close ties to Rupert Murdoch and would be a key figure if he attempts to move into the UK schools market

On a freezing November day in 2010, the education secretary, Michael Gove, turned out in east London to inspect a desolate stretch of dockside ground near City airport, where Rupert Murdoch had offered to build an academy school.The cabinet minister was accompanied by Rebekah Brooks, then News International chief executive, and an entourage of other top Murdoch staff, including James Harding and Will Lewis.Despite the unprepossessing venue there was no mistaking the company's enthusiasm for the project. Murdoch described himself in a speech as the saviour of British education, thanks to his company's "adoption of new academies here in London".It was a high-water mark of the love-in between Gove, Murdoch and the Conservative government. Gove, a former Times journalist, had previously gone out of his way to flatter his own proprietor, writing that Murdoch "encourages … free-thinking".

Shortly after the Docklands visit, the phone-hacking scandal disrupted these close relations. News International's proposed academy was quietly abandoned. Newham council says nothing was subsequently done to fulfil Murdoch's promises.But Gove returned to his pro-Murdoch theme last week, publicly attacking the Leveson inquiry, set up in the wake of News International's misdeeds, as a threat to press freedom. "Whenever anyone sets up a new newspaper – as Rupert Murdoch has with the Sun on Sunday – they should be applauded and not criticised," he said.It was a reminder of the extraordinarily close links that still exist between publishing tycoon and Tory politician. One of Murdoch's long-term projects is what he calls a "revolutionary and profitable" move by his media companies into online education. Gove would be a key figure in any attempt to penetrate the British schools market.The education secretary meets Murdoch frequently and is an enthusiastic backer of the ideas of Joel Klein, the head of Murdoch's new education division. Within a week of his promotion in 2010, the minister was at dinner with Murdoch, according to officially released details of meetings.The atmosphere could only have been warm. Gove once sang Murdoch's praises in a 1999 Times column as "the greatest godfather of mischief in print" who possesses "18th-century pamphleteering vigour". He wrote that Murdoch "encourages … free thinking. His newspapers … are driven by public demand and the creativity of chaotic, cock-snooking, individuals."Murdoch in turn was kind to his former employee. When Gove first arrived at Westminster in 2005 as a backbench MP, the Times topped up his salary with a £60,000-a-year column. His wife still works for the paper.Murdoch's publishing arm, HarperCollins, also gave Gove a book advance in 2004, when he was first selected for the safe Conservative seat of Surrey Heath. It was for a history of an obscure 18th-century politician, Viscount Bolingbroke.Puzzlingly, the book was never delivered. HarperCollins refuses to disclose the size of the advance and its size is not specified in Gove's register of financial interests. Asked if his advance should be returned eight years later, HarperCollins says Gove "is still committed to writing a book on Bolingbroke but obviously his ministerial duties come first for now". Gove will not comment.At the Gove dinner on 19 May 2010, Murdoch was accompanied by his then right-hand aide in Britain, Rebekah Brooks. Brooks was also with the education secretary at a second dinner three weeks later, on 10 June, for what his department terms "general discussion".

In a subsequent speech to the National College for School Leadership, Gove singled Joel Klein out for praise. Klein was a US lawyer then running the New York school system. But Klein was also Murdoch's own favourite US educator. His clashes with the teachers' unions and his enthusiasm for academy-style "charter schools" had caught the tycoon's interest. Murdoch planned to hire Klein himself.Gove told his British audience on 16 June that US reformers such as Klein were insisting on "more great charter schools … free from government bureaucracy" because they were "amazing engines of social mobility".Within 24 hours of that speech, the minister was once more at the lunch table with Murdoch himself, again with Brooks in attendance and, according to the department, other "News International executives and senior editors", for "general discussion".At the end of summer 2010, Murdoch formally hired Klein for $2m (£1.3m) a year, plus a $1m signing bonus, to launch what he called a "revolutionary, and profitable, education division". Murdoch bought Wireless Generation, a US educational technology firm, for $360m, and gave it to Klein to run. Murdoch's vision was that he would digitise the world's so far unexploited classrooms. He told investors: "We see a $500bn sector in the US alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed by big breakthroughs." He envisaged some of News Corporation's large library of media content being beamed to pupils' terminals.Gove seemed to be an enthusiast. He met Klein on 30 September 2010, before the announcement of his link-up with Murdoch. The Department for Education does not explain the circumstances, other than saying "more than 10 others" were present for a "general discussion".The following month, Murdoch flew to London again, to deliver the Margaret Thatcher lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies. He called for a revolutionised education system in the UK "that really teaches … In the last decades, I'm afraid, most of the English-speaking world has spent more and more on education with worse and worse results".He boasted: "That is why so many of my company's donations are devoted to the cause of education – including the adoption of new academies here in London. There is no excuse for the way British children are being failed" .

Gove was with Murdoch for the celebratory dinner afterwards, along with Murdoch's son James and all his editors. And in the new year, Klein flew to England along with Murdoch himself for three days spent at Gove's department. He was "visiting UK as guest of DfE to explain and discuss US education policy and success", say officials. Gove was photographed visiting the King Solomon academy with Klein, who addressed a free schools conference. Gove dined with Murdoch, and with Brooks yet again, at a dinner hosted by businessman Charles Dunstone, an academy sponsor.On 19 May, Gove breakfasted with Murdoch in London. The tycoon flew on from that meeting to address a Paris conference of internet entrepreneurs. This time, he went into some detail about News Corp's plans for educational technology. He and Klein had been touring educational projects around the world, in South Korea, Sweden and California. Schools were the "last holdout from the digital revolution" he said. "Today's classroom looks almost exactly the same as it did in the Victorian age …The key is the software.""I'd expect in the next [few] months we'd be making some acquisitions," Klein told the Financial Times. "There's the willingness to put in significant capital."He cited the Khan Academy, a not-for-profit producer of educational videos through YouTube, as an example of how technology could add value.On 16 June, Gove addressed the teachers' college in Birmingham on strikingly similar lines, calling for "technical innovation" in the classroom. He cited the "amazing revolution" of iTunes U in publishing lessons online. The same night, he dined with Rupert Murdoch yet again.Four days later, Gove returned to the theme in another speech, praising News Corp's new hiring, Joel Klein, and urging his audience to read an "excellent article" Klein had written promoting charter schools.Murdoch himself, returning to London, spoke at a conference of chief executives. The Times recorded: "Mr Murdoch detailed a vision whereby almost all children would be provided with technology such as specially designed tablet computers. He said that through such advances, 'You can get the very, very finest teachers in every course, in every subject, at every grade, and make them available to every child in the school – or if necessary, in some cases – in the world.‘

"Mr Murdoch said that News Corporation, parent company of the Times, would help to spearhead this change by growing its business in providing educational material. He said he would be "thrilled" if 10% of News Corporation's business was made up of its education revenues in the next five years."On 26 June, Gove was at yet another dinner with Murdoch. He followed it up with the most explicit endorsement to date of News Corp's education project in an address to the Royal Society entitled Technology in the Classroom. He even held up for praise Klein's favourite model, the Khan Academy, which was "putting high-quality lessons on the web".He said: "We need to change curricula, tests and teaching to keep up with technology … Whitehall must enable these innovations but not seek to micromanage them. The new environment of teaching schools will be a fertile ecosystem for experimenting and spreading successful ideas rapidly through the system."Murdoch's education project now began to falter, however, because of the looming British phone-hacking scandal. In the US, voices began to question the links between Klein and contracts awarded by the New York education department to Wireless Generation, the technology firm acquired by Murdoch. Klein and Murdoch's education division lost a hoped-for new $27m contract with the New York authorities.Klein himself was catapulted into a central role in the company's attempts to firefight the scandal. He flew over to London to the parliamentary committee hearings in July. While all eyes were on Wendi Deng as she landed a punch on the foam-pie thrower who attacked her 80-year-old husband during the televised session, few noticed the dry legal figure sitting just behind her.He now plays a key role in controlling the controversial management and standards committee (MSC) that is house-cleaning at News International by handing over journalists' incriminating emails to the police.Until Murdoch's UK operation has been fully cleansed of its hacking toxicity, the way will not be open for Klein to resume his education projects, and his formerly close political links with Gove. But the end of the process of "draining the swamp", as one MSC source put it, may now be in sight.Invited to respond to these issues, a Gove spokesman declined to comment.

Joel I. KleinJoel I. Klein is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)In January 2011, Joel I. Klein became CEO of the Educational Division and Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman, at News Corporation, where he also serves on the Board of Directors.Prior to that, Mr. Klein was Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education where he oversaw a system of over 1,600 schools with 1.1 million students, 136,000 employees and a $22 billion budget. He launched Children First in 2002, a comprehensive reform strategy that has brought coherence and capacity to the system and resulted in significant increases in student performance.He is a former Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann, Inc., a media company, and served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice until September 2000, and was Deputy White House Counsel to President Clinton from 1993-1995. Mr. Klein entered the Clinton administration after 20 years of public and private legal work in Washington, D.C.Mr. Klein received his BA from Columbia University where he graduated magna cum laude in 1967, and earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1971, also graduating magna cum laude. He has received honorary degrees from Amherst College, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Fordham Law School, Georgetown Law Center, Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, Manhattanville College, New York Law School, and St. John’s School of Education. He was selected by Time Magazine as one of Ten People who Mattered in 1999, by U.S. News and World Report as One of America’s 20 Best Leaders in 2006, and was given the prestigious NYU Lewis Rudin Award in 2009 and Manhattan Institute Alexander Hamilton Award in 2011.

Jeb Bush is Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. He served as the 43rd governor of Florida, from 1999 through 2007. (read more)

F. Philip Handy is a member of the Board of Directors and Secretary of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)Since October, 2001, F. Philip Handy has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Industries, a portfolio of companies in diversified service and manufacturing businesses. All of the companies have been significantly restructured and taken to a global presence and enhanced profitability.Until January, 2007, he served for six years as Chairman of the Florida State Board of Education, a seven person board appointed by Governor Jeb Bush, which has constitutional responsibility for Florida’s public educational system (over 4 million students).

Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah is a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more) Dr. Zachariah is one of the leading cardiologists in the nation. He is President of the Fort Lauderdale Heart Institute, a thriving private practice with five cardiologists/physicians and 30 employees. He is the Director of Cardiology for Holy Cross Hospital, a 570 bed not-for-profit community hospital in Fort Lauderdale and serves as a volunteer Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami. Dr. Zachariah serves on the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the management of Florida’s university system, and a Trustee for Nova Southeastern University, the largest private university in the Southeast United States with more than 26,000 students. He is a member of the Council of 100, a statewide organization of business leaders who advise the Governor on issues of public policy. He is also a member and former Chairman of the Florida Council on Economic Education, a not-for-profit organization that educates students in kindergarten through high school on economic principles to better prepare them for personally and professional success in our free enterprise system.

eginald J. Brown is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)He is a partner at the WilmerHale law firm in Washington, DC., where he is Vice Chair of the firm's Public Policy and Strategy Group and a member of the Regulatory and Government Affairs and Litigation/Controversy Departments. Mr. Brown joined the firm in 1997, and served as special assistant to the President and Associate White House Counsel from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Brown also served as Deputy General Counsel to Former Governor Jeb Bush, Assistant to the CEO and Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Federated States of Micronesia early in his professional career. Mr. Brown is a member of the Board of Visitors of the George Mason University in Virginia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Advisory Committee on Procedures and the American Council on Germany. He is an honors graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, and lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife Tiffeny and their two children.

Cesar Conde is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)He is president of the Univision Networks at Univision Communications Inc., the premier media company serving Hispanic America. He is responsible for overseeing Univision Communications’ television networks, which include Univision Network, TeleFutura, Galavisión and TuTv Networks (including De Película, De Película Clásico, Telehit, Ritmoson Latino and Bandamax). He is responsible for Univision Studios, which was created in December 2009 to build on the 4,000 hours of original programming that the company produces across multiple genres annually. He also oversees various corporate functions, including government relations, community affairs, corporate communications and public relations. He reports directly to the CEO.

Joel I. Klein is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)In January 2011, Joel I. Klein became CEO of the Educational Division and Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman, at News Corporation, where he also serves on the Board of Directors.Prior to that, Mr. Klein was Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education where he oversaw a system of over 1,600 schools with 1.1 million students, 136,000 employees and a $22 billion budget. He launched Children First in 2002, a comprehensive reform strategy that has brought coherence and capacity to the system and resulted in significant increases in student performance.

William Oberndorf is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)William Oberndorf is chairman of the board of Aggregates U.S.A. and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, director emeritus of Plum Creek Tiber Co, and founding partner of SPO Partners & Co. He is also co-founder, board member and past chairman of the Alliance for School Choice, a nationwide organization that works to bring about K-12 education reform and expand school choice for low-income families. Oberndorf also serves as a trustee of The Thacher School, The University of California San Francisco Foundation, University School in Cleveland, Ohio and former trustee of Williams College. He has a M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and B.A. from Williams College. He and his wife reside in California and have two sons.

William SimonWilliam Simon is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)He presently serves as president and CEO of Walmart U.S., responsible for the strategic direction and operational performance of the U.S. business, including more than 3,700 stores and 1.3 million associates. Previously, he was the chief operating officer and executive vice president of professional services and new business development for Walmart U.S. Before joining Walmart, in March 2006, Simon was vice president of professional services and new business development at Brinker International. He is retired from the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserves and holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and an MBA in management from the University of Connecticut.

Brian Yablonski is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. (read more)Currently, Mr. Yablonski is Vice President of Public Affairs for the St. Joe Company, Florida’s largest private landowner. In this role, he is helping to strategically plan nearly 800,000 acres of land in Northwest Florida. From 1999 to 2002, Yablonski served as Director of Policy and Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Jeb Bush, where he assisted the governor in crafting the major policy initiatives for his first term in office. He also previously served as the communications director for the Foundation for Florida’s Future, editing its quarterly policy journal, Impact magazine, and co-authoring the book, Profiles in Character, with Jeb Bush.

HomeReformer ToolboxReformer ToolboxWelcome to our Reformer Toolbox, which provides education reformers the tools they need to advance and adopt education reform in their state. The tools include policy reforms and corresponding model legislation and white papers. More information, including news articles and additional research, is available in our Reform Library.Reform AgendaAdvancing High Expectations and Rigorous Academic Standards Requiring Data-Driven Accountability for Schools Rewarding Effective Teachers Funding for Achievement Expanding School Choice for Families Choice creates a more effective education system and allows parents – the ones best equipped to have a choice and a voice in their child’s education – more freedom over their student’s schooling options.Unleashing the Power of Digital Learning