School trust boss and Tory donor David Ross given peerage
The man who chairs trust behind several Northamptonshire schools has been given a seat in the House of Lords.
David Ross, of the eponymous David Ross Education Trust (DRET), has been named as one of 26 political peers in a Number 10 announcement.
Mr Ross, who lives in nearby Nevill Holt Hall, home of the growing cultural festival, was nominated for a peerage by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
The former Uppingham School boy founded DRET in 2007. The trust now has 36 schools including Bringhurst, Greenfields and Havelock in Kettering, and Rockingham Primary, and Lodge Park secondary in Corby.
Mr Ross has donated in the region of £1.3m to the Conservative Party in recent years including a personal donation to Kemi Badenoch’s campaign in 2024.
He donated £161,000 just in the past year.
In 2019 his apparent funding of a holiday for the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the subject of some controversy after it was revealed that Mr Ross did not own the Mustique property that Mr Johnson stayed in over Christmas 2019 when tensions were rising in the Middle East. It had been declared as a £15,000 benefit on Mr Johnson’s register of interests
Labour demanded an investigation into who had actually paid for the holiday. Mr Johnson was eventually cleared, but was criticised by the independent commissioner for the ‘ad hoc’ arrangement.
Mr Ross was in the same year at Uppingham as Reform deputy leader Richard Tice.
He then made his estimated £700m fortune after he co-founded Carphone Warehouse. His David Ross Foundation says it has handed out an estimated £20m in charitable funds over the years.
He founded the Nevill Holt Festival which welcomes thousands of visitors to Mr Ross’s beautifully-refurbished stately home just over the Leicestershire border each summer for a programme of arts, music, speech and literature.
Simon Rose, CEO at DRET said: “On behalf of the David Ross Education Trust, I would like to congratulate David Ross on his appointment to the House of Lords.
"David founded DRET in 2007, starting with Havelock Academy in Grimsby, David’s home town. Since then, DRET has grown into a thriving multi-academy trust of 36 schools across the East Midlands, Yorkshire and London.
“David has helped to make a lasting impact on the enrichment and education of thousands of young people who have attended a DRET school.”