A BRADFORD MP is demanding an independent inquiry into the controversial Kings Science Academy in the city after exposing fresh evidence of close links between senior Tory Alan Lewis and the school.

Bradford East MP David Ward has also accused the Department for Education of "intransigence" in avoiding his questions about governance at the school.

He says the level of confusion over the free school warrants an independent examination of the real circumstances.

The academy is built on land owned by Mr Lewis's company the Hartley Group and the deal is worth almost £6m over the course of a 20 year contract, according to Mr Ward's motion.

At the time the development was approved by the Department for Education, Mr Lewis was described as chairman of Governors, though that was later revised, with the DfE stating that was not the case.

However, Mr Ward has now raised the issue that Mr Lewis has again been described as chairman of governors at Kings Science Academy as part of a fresh application for a more recent application for a similar free school in Sheffield.

He has tabled an early day motion in the House of Commons, which raises the issue of the conflicting information about Mr Lewis's position relating to Kings Science Academy, with the Sheffield application having a section titled 'Our Philanthropist, Chair of Governors: Alan Lewis CBE' which was published after the DfE had said it had been misinformed when told he held that role.

According to Mr Ward, the DfE's position is that that school had no chairman of governors was "contradicted by its own investigation report into the school which says it believes there was a chairman in place".

He says that "conflicting version of events at the school demonstrates a lack of accountability in the Government's free school programme".

Mr Lewis, 75, is one of the Conservative party's most senior members, having been appointed vice-chairman for business by David Cameron.

He has run highly successful businesses throughout his career and was described as chairman of governors at Kings Science Academy when the application for the Bradford site was first submitted.

Mr Ward has been highly critical of the deal which sees Mr Lewis's company paid around £300,000 a year in rent, though the DfE has defended the deal as the best available.

The academy has also attracted controversy in other areas, with a police investigation into its internal finances continuing and its principal dismissed this summer by the Governors.

A DfE spokesman said: “As part of their funding agreement, all free schools must notify the department of any changes in governance.

“The Department was explicitly informed by Kings Science Academy that Alan Lewis took over as chair from October 1, 2011.

"We learned in October 2012 that we had been misinformed. An investigation by the Education Funding Agency later confirmed there had been no chair in place for the first year of the school’s operation.

“Following this, we required KSA to address their management failings urgently and we are confident they are doing so. As with all free schools, they continue to be held rigorously to account.”

A spokesman for Hartley Group said: “As attested to in the official documentation publicly viewable on the Companies House website, it remains a matter of recorded fact that Mr Lewis was never a Trustee, Member, Governor, or Chair of Governors of the Kings Science Academy in Bradford (KIFSA).

"We are not able to speculate on literature written by KIFSA executives, but on every occasion where Mr Lewis’s staff  have identified instances of KIFSA incorrectly describing his title, or containing quotes written by KIFSA staff and wrongly attributed to Mr Lewis, these were pointed out to KIFSA with requests that they be corrected.”