UK school governor banned for 'undermining British values'

A Muslim governor at the heart of the so-called "Trojan Horse plot" to promote extremist views in Britain's schools has become the first person to be banned by the government from involvement with any schools in the country, according to a media report.
Tahir Alam has been issued with a blanket ban by the UK's Department for Education (DfE) after he was accused of running a plot to seize control of a number of school governing boards in the north of England, The Guardian reported.
Hardip Begol, the director of assessment, curriculum, qualifications and accountability at the DfE, said in a letter addressed to Alam that he had pushed an intolerant ideology based on a hardline strand of Sunni Islam.

The letter added that he had become involved in conduct "aimed at undermining the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths or beliefs".
Alam, who resigned as chairman of governors at the Park View Educational Trust in Birmingham at the height of the scandal last year, branded the DfE's claims against him "nonsensical".
He has always denied any wrongdoing of the kind alleged in an anonymous Trojan Horse letter, which came to light 2013 implying plans to promote extreme Islamist ideology in UK schools.

Alam, who passed the letter informing him of the ban to the paper, said he intended to appeal.

"I have the dubious honour of being the first person to be issued with a ban of this kind by the (Department for Education) preventing me from taking part in the management of schools," he said.
"I did my job as a governor, as a volunteer, and I did it very well in collaboration with others. I helped transform these schools into successful schools and stand by my work there. All the allegations against me have been put forward on the basis of hearsay and I strongly contest them," he added.
The DfE is expected to formally announce its decision to ban Alam tomorrow when a statement is also expected.