£1m backer of Islington academy is revealed

The secret donor pumping £1 million into the school where Tony Blair refused to send his children is revealed today as a Liechtenstein-based charity.

Islington Green School is to be turned into a city academy sponsored by City University, which raised the money from the Medicor Foundation headed by Prince Eugen von und zu Liechtenstein.

The £30 million academy is being cosponsored by the Corporation of London, which put up the other £1 million in sponsorship. City University raised the cash from Medicor because it did not have enough of its own to put in.

The university insisted Medicor will have no say in the day-to-day running of the new academy, its curriculum or governors. Although the payment got caught up in Labour's "donorgate" row last year, ministers said when the donation first came to light in December they were unconcerned about the donor's desire for anonymity.

But local opponents of the Islington Green academy plan were furious and repeatedly tried to force City University to name its backer.

Today, a university spokeswoman said: "The university is comfortable with what we know of the background of the [Medicor] foundation and that it is a valuable philanthropic supporter of health, education and social care projects around the world."