Wealthy Tory donor David Ross in line for top Ofsted job

A multimillionaire Tory party donor and friend of David Cameron and Boris Johnson, is in the frame to become chair of Ofsted, a move that would plunge the schools regulator into a further row over its politicisation.

David Ross, the playboy co-founder of Carphone Warehouse whose charitable foundation supports more than 20 academy schools, is understood to be in serious contention to take over the Ofsted role from Labour peer Sally Morgan, who is waiting for the education secretary, Michael Gove, to make a fresh appointment.

A former tax exile, with a fortune estimated at £800m at its peak six years ago, Ross, 48, is estimated to have donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservative party, with prominent Tories known to have been visitors to shooting parties at his sprawling country estate in Leicestershire.

One of Ross's guests was former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks. In 2011, she visited him months after she first faced charges over phone-hacking episodes at the company. Following an eight-month trial, Brooks was found not guilty last month.

Morgan's abrupt termination earlier this year by Gove set off a brief but bruising contretemps between Ofsted's powerful chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, and the education secretary.

At the time, the Lib Dems said Morgan's sacking in February was because of "Gove's desire to get his own people on board", with the schools minister David Laws said to be furious at the politicisation of the schools regulator.

The appointment process for the Ofsted job is still ongoing and other candidates, such as fellow Tory party donor and academy chain founder Theodore Agnew, are also said to be contenders. A Department for Education spokesman said: "The recruitment process for the new chair of Ofsted is ongoing. The successful candidate will be announced in due course."

Wilshaw has come under intense pressure after a year that has seen Ofsted criticised for its inspection processes and accused of pursuing a political agenda in its investigation into the Trojan Horse allegations in Birmingham schools.

Critics of Wilshaw and Ofsted on the Conservative right say the inspectorate has been overly critical of newly established free schools in its ratings, with some saying the schools should get a longer grace period, or even separate inspection teams – similar to those that cover private schools.

Ross's reputation and complex personal history – including brushes with the law over financial dealings and prostitutes – is likely to mean than any involvement he has in the government's flagship education policies will be politically controversial.

The magnate resigned as London mayor Boris Johnson's representative on the London Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympic Games after it was discovered he had been using shares in Carphone Warehouse – the mobile phone retailer he co-founded with Charlie Dunstone – as security for personal loans. The scandal saw him resign as a director of the company.

In 2010 Ross was interviewed under police caution after a Lithuanian escort claimed she was assaulted at his house in Belgravia after being called to the address. She later withdrew the allegation.

Ross's background was already one of comfortable wealth thanks to his grandfather having turned a small Grimsby fishing company into one of Britain's biggest suppliers of frozen fish and chicken, and later bought out Young's frozen foods brand.

The entrepreneur has a long-standing interest in education. Just last month the David Ross Education Trust was asked by the DfE to take over Charnwood college, Loughborough's largest school, after it was placed in special measures by Ofsted.

Ross's defenders say he has been involved in education for several years, with his private foundation's support for the David Ross Education Trust.

The trust sponsored its first academy in 2007, under Labour, and now sponsors or manages more than 20 such schools. In September it will open its first free school, the Matthew Arnold Prep School in Northampton.

Ross himself attended the public school Uppingham in Rutland, where boarders currently pay £30,000 a year.

The tycoon's colourful personal life saw him enter a relationship with Shelley Ross, a ballerina who worked as a pole dancer at Stringfellows to make ends meet, and the couple had a son. As well as his estates in Leicestershire, his wealth allowed Ross to buy grouse moors in Yorkshire for £22m. Despite the lavish properties, for many years Ross spent much of his time in Switzerland for tax reasons.

Ross is one of an exclusive circle of Tory party donors who have been active in establishing academy chains. John Nash, the party's education minister in the House of Lords, is a former venture capitalist who sponsored an academy as well as several private schools. Others include Lord Harris, the Conservative peer who chairs the Harris Federation chain of academies and free schools, and Lord Fink, director of the Ark Schools chain.

The DfE said: "As with all public appointments, the appointment process is being conducted in accordance with the requirements set by the commissioner for public appointments and the guidance issued by the Cabinet Office public appointments unit. An independent panel decides who is longlisted, shortlisted and interviewed. After this process is complete, they recommend to ministers a list of appointable candidates."