A Muslim school governor at the heart of the Trojan horse controversy has been banned from having any involvement with schools after being accused of “undermining British values”.

The Department for Education (DfE) issued the ban on Tahir Alam, former chair of governors at Park View Educational Trust in Birmingham – the first time an order of this kind has been used.

Hardip Begol, director of assessment, curriculum, qualifications and accountability at DfE, said Alam had engaged 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 passed the letter informing him of the ban to the Guardian, 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,” Alam 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.”

The barring of Alam from working within schools is the latest development in the Trojan horse controversy, which emerged early in 2014 when an anonymous letter alleged there was an Islamist plot to influence the educational programme in several Birmingham schools with high numbers of Muslim pupils.

Alam was named as the architect of the plot in the letter, and in July 2014 he resigned along with his board of trustees from Park View’s governing body. He said the accusations against him were baseless and part of a witch-hunt.

The DfE is expected to formally announce its decision to ban Alam on Wednesday. .

As well as being banned from any involvement with independent schools, Alam is now disqualified from being a governor in any state school. The official letter also warns that any school found to be using Alam in any management capacity, paid or unpaid, would be closed down.



In a five-page annex, the DfE accuses Alam of exerting too much control over Park View Educational Trust, espousing an intolerant and narrow faith-based ideology based on a hardline strand of Sunni Islam, imposing gender segregation among pupils for some activities and failing to treat girls and boys as equals.

The letter states that Alam’s actions placed pupils “at risk of vulnerability to radicalisation, promoted intolerance of difference and diversity and restricted their life chances by failing to provide pupils with the necessary learning and skills to flourish in modern, multicultural Britain.”

The DfE has rejected an 11-page rebuttal of these claims from Alam

Alam said there was no evidence against him to substantiate any of the allegations of radicalisation of pupils. “All the allegations against me have been put forward on the basis of hearsay and I strongly contest them,” he said.

He added: “A lot of damage has been inflicted on the young people who study there, on their hopes and aspirations and on their future earning potential. It is easier to destroy than to build. I loved education and I really wanted to make a difference. I will be appealing against these nonsensical claims in front of an independent judge.”

• This article was amended on 14 September 2015. Park View school was not among those named in the Trojan horse letter, as an earlier version said.