Peter Vardy (businessman)
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Sir Peter Vardy is a successful British businessman from Durham specialising in the automotive retail business. He appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List 2004.
[edit] Business Interests
Vardy took control of the car dealership Reg Vardy plc in 1976, after the death of the founder. In the late seventies was successful in acquiring franchises to sell various brands in the UK. From 1982 he expanded into the volume car market, first with British manufacturers and subsequently with European and Japanese marques. In January 2006 the dealership was sold to the largest UK car dealership chain, Pendragon Cars.
Vardy was awarded the inaugural Industry Personality of the Year Award in a round of Automotive Management Awards and received a knighthood for services to education in the Queen's Birthday Honours list of 2001[1].
[edit] Controversy
Vardy is a committed Christian and it has been reported[2] that he rejects the theory of evolution in favour of creationism. He has caused controversy in the UK by using his wealth to fund the building of a number of City Academies, many with a Christian slant to their teaching. The bulk of these form the Emmanuel Schools Foundation, a coalition of schools based in the north of England.
While Vardy's combination of philanthropy and Christianity appeals to many supporters of the British New Labour government, critics have voiced concern over the promotion in such schools of doctrines such as creationism and their condemnation of homosexuality.
In an interview with the BBC Today Program[3], broadcast 15th April 2006, Sir Peter denied holding fundamental creationist beliefs stating, "I believe that God created the earth and created man in his own image, quite how long it took him I don't know". He claimed to exert no influence over the curriculum of the schools he sponsors beyond insisting on a "chrisitan ethos" and that he would be concerned if creationism was taught as fact in his schools. Vardy complained that a comment made 5 years ago in which he intended to convey only a belief in a "creator God" rather than a literal belief in the bible creation stories, had been mis-interpreted and blown out of proportion by the media.
