AIBU to want politicians with strong academic and business backgrounds?

But it's still not entreprenneurial. It's business management, just like Starmer running a legal firm or a typical GP running a practice. There's a massive difference between actually being imaginative and sniffing out new opportunities, creating new products/services, seeking out new markets, etc etc compared with administering/managing an established organisation.

Stand for parliament then, @Catsandjkr .

We do have medics in Parliament. Has one ever been Health Secretary?

I was not in the UK but also thought MT a disaster, so I would not have voted for JM either.

John Major’s interview on Newsnight was brilliant. He is an excellent former PM.

He made the point that growing up in a Labour dominated area he never doubted the commitments and loyalties of his councillors and MPs to (all of) their constituents. He feels that nowadays Labour is beholden primarily to one set of interest groups and the Conservatives to another, each as bad as the other.

He wants more real people - not just business people but teachers and scientists and engineers and ex military and tradespeople - in Parliament. On the surface it sounds similar to what OP is saying, but much more inclusive.

I think Westminster could also use a few more people who have transitioned from life on benefits to doing something economically and socially productive.

Any confusion is understandable. You’re pro business and both in favour of and against Oxford, in different posts.

Yet the only politician you mention by name is Bill Clinton. Zero business experience. Oxford, and before that the Foreign Service College at Georgetown and Yale Law. Difficult to devise a more strictly government/political background than that.

Would you count running a charity as running a business? That might widen the pool and from experience managing funding, commissioning and large contracts as well as service delivery it’s very similar.

I agree.

Get some healthcare professionals (people with recent on the ground experience, not band 8s or professors who haven’t changed a bedsheet or spoken to a patient in years), emergency services, civil engineers, tradespeople etc. involved.

DH and I have a theory that they need a bloke called Jason who is a generic man (or woman tbf) that they run things by before announcing policies. If Jason who is a scaffolder, with two kids, a wife, and cares about his local community thinks something sounds a bit ‘off’, it probably is.

I don’t think self-serving billionaires/millionaires and aristocrats represent the vast majority of society.

@MrsShawnHatosy They have too much compassion. It’s why a minority get a lot of benefits that others pay heavily towards. It’s not just about listening to complaining constituents. We need people with vision to unpick the issues and take long term decisions. What we don’t need is knee jerk compassion.

I want politicians with intellect, life experience and compassion.

The bit about Rayner was the nonsense part, the ETA

@TopPocketFind It’s not nonsense. It’s policies without understanding consequences and, even worse, not caring. It’s political dogma at its worse. It’s not helping the growth agenda and it’s foolhardy. Long term growth policies are needed and that means not trying to obstruct business and understanding business needs. Most MPs are incapable of that.

Comprehension should not rely on guesswork by the reader. The original post was not clear - either to me or to other posters.
No need to be embarrassed for me, thanks. Your energy would be better spent editing your posts.

There is a giant chasm between a minimum wage job and someone born into privilege including private education at elite schools and universities.

You don't need to have worked a minimum wage job in a supermarket or shifts in an Amazon warehouse to have the empathy and imagination to picture the struggles and challenges of bringing up a family while on the bones of your arse, or having to make ends meet while managing a disability.

Heidi Alexander (currently Transport Minister) is a very credible and compassionate member of the current Labour government. Whenever I hear her speak, I believe she talks a lot of sense and sounds extremely switched on and tuned into the challenges of the people in this country.

I also don't think those things should be discounted but I still strongly believe it needs to be representative, a country is not a business otherwise we fuck off the arts, put apartments over every playground, scrap NMW, privatise everything etc

So it's important that quality of life etc is prioritized for all and representative politics helps achieve that.

It's also clear a country isn't a money tree so yeah if someone is doing the accounts I'd rather they trained in kpmg than they were just good at saving for their summer holidays.

But I think the narrow definition of the OPs with regards to business experience which would exclude those who haven't run a business is nuts.

People point to Sunak as someone with a good record in business, hard to disagree, as far as I know he never ran one so out he goes. Keir starmer, barrister and head of DPP, undoubtedly managing a huge amount of people and an important role .... Doesn't count, he didn't have to organize a payroll.

By their own assessment there's isn't one politician in the last decade that meets the criteria

There is a thread on Angela Rayner for this nonsense in aibu

So someone who spent years in customer service, in low pay jobs, possibly with no education, will know how to run a country? How to manage budget, the impact of policy decisions, etc? ok then

I'd still strongly prefer excellent education and business experience. Education alone doesn't cut it, as proven by the current lot. They need to understand the consequences of decisions they make, not only ideology.

ETA: we actually had an example of politician you want, no education, only worked in a low paid job. Achievements - Workers Rights Bill which strongly contributed to rising unemployment and attempts to concrete green belt. Not much built still.

The only example we got is Bill Clinton but that was down to the team he build around him?

Who in his team met the criteria?