Conflict of interest? New PPS to Gove refuses to ditch private school role

A new government aide is coming under pressure over conflicts of interest. Gavin Barwell has been appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to education secretary Michael Gove — but is refusing to ditch his role with no less than THREE private schools.

Gavin Barwell is a governor of the Whitgift Foundation, which runs three private schools in his Croydon constituency — including the £13,000-a-year Trinity School where Barwell himself studied and is now chair of governors.

Barwell even admitted to Scrapbook this afternoon that he wanted to use his PPS role “to help the Foundation to become an academy sponsor”. And while they boast of “very generous” bursary schemes, Trinity School’s scheme of reduced fees encompasses families of a distinctly middle class hue: families with incomes of up to £70,000 can apply for grants.

Scrapbook will be watching closely to see exactly how Barwell will leverage his new role for the benefit of the Foundation.

As regular readers of Scrapbook will be acutely aware, Gove runs his department as though the normal rules don’t apply.