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Original poster

Guess what proportion of MPs privately educated in each party. Go on, guess!

130 replies

nearlytoolate · 11/05/2010 10:50

And no cheating if you have read it in the papers already!

OP posts:
pollywollydoodle · 11/05/2010 12:02

i would also like to know if any of the parties' spinners are not privately educated

claig · 11/05/2010 11:36

good question Jacaqueen, and it is the cabinet that is particularly revealing.

claig · 11/05/2010 11:35

there are some excellent state schools. I am a fan of the 11+ and state grammar schools that allowed people like me from working and middle class families to get educations equally as good as any of the toffs can get. Thatcher was a grammar school girl and she ran rings around all the toffs from Eton, Westminster and Harrow combined. We've got millions of very clever children from poor families. Let's give them a chance.

ReneRusso · 11/05/2010 11:34

It wouldn't be hypocrisy anyway, children generally go to school where their parents choose.

Jacaqueen · 11/05/2010 11:34

I would like to know how many MPs use private education for their own children.

Original poster
nearlytoolate · 11/05/2010 11:31

exactly claig. But the way it has been reported in all the media has been very much 'oh, they're all getting worse', thus allowing the impression that there is little to choose between them. when in fact, there is a world of difference.

And I suppose I am getting a bit sick of the received (media driven) wisdom that you can't succeed if you go to a state school. Just feeds into the self-fulfilling paranoia about state schools. (that's not a party political point by the way).

OP posts:
complimentary · 11/05/2010 11:30

I don't know but I reckon its 80%.

claig · 11/05/2010 11:27

news.independentminds.livejournal.com/7139465.html

thanks, apologies I was wrong about Labour. Well done throckenholt.

nearlytoolate, it's not in the Mail because it won't help the Tories. But it would be interesting to see what the situation is with the cabinet and shadow cabinets.

ClaireDeLoon · 11/05/2010 11:27

Same as polly - thought all would be higher.

Original poster
nearlytoolate · 11/05/2010 11:24

exactly, pollywolly. I had thought it would be more like 60/50/40.

OP posts:
dotty2 · 11/05/2010 11:24

Ah - I hadn't realised Claig's answer was a guess, not the real answer. Well, I must say I am surprised, if pleasantly - maybe Labour haven't moved away from their roots as I thought! Please ignore my grumpy and defensive post...

pollywollydoodle · 11/05/2010 11:22

surprising, thought all parties' percentages would be higher...

thinker · 11/05/2010 11:20

Why answer a thread with
Could you just not comment?

Original poster
nearlytoolate · 11/05/2010 11:20

If you can't be bothered to look it up, its:

Conservative 54%
LibDem 40%
Labour 15%

OP posts:
Original poster
nearlytoolate · 11/05/2010 11:18

Sorry not good at links but here is a good summary:

news.independentminds.livejournal.com/7139465.html

My point is, dotty2, that the impression people have is not necessarily backed up by the facts. From what I had gathered from the media I had formed an impression that there was little difference between the parties.

Throckenholt, I'm impressed!
claig, interesting that its not in the mail, don't you think?

OP posts:
anonymousbird · 11/05/2010 11:15

50 (lab)
65(lib)
60 (con)
go on, give us the answers!

claig · 11/05/2010 11:15

It's not in my favourite paper, the Daily Mail. They are usually the ones who spill the beans. Wonder which paper has it? Please vote so that we can find out.

dotty2 · 11/05/2010 11:14

And your point is what exactly- that they are all hypocrites? I was privately educated myself, vote Labour, and am not opposed to private education - just would like state schools to be so good that all children are able to enjoy the excellent opportunities that I had, whether or not their parents can afford it. And actually, on that score - my parents couldn't afford it; I had a scholarship. I grew up in a working class area of Bradford where the state schools were very poor (as my sister had found to her cost). And at university, I got absolutely sick of people being all holier-than-thou because they'd been to a comprehensive, but had grown up in a leafy commuter suburb where the comprehensive was probably posher than my surprisingly socially mixed private grammar school... agree it certainly shows us that Labour can no longer claim to be the party of the working class, but it's not claimed to be that for a long time?

etchasketch · 11/05/2010 11:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

throckenholt · 11/05/2010 11:09

I would say conservative most (probably 60%), then liberal (probably 30-40%) and then labour (say 20%).

I would say 90 % have been to university, and probably 60%of the conservatives are oxbridge, while maybe 20% of labour are oxbridge.

claig · 11/05/2010 11:05

Labour 65%
Liberals 45%
Tories 55%

Original poster
nearlytoolate · 11/05/2010 11:04

I want a few more guesses first

OP posts:
claig · 11/05/2010 11:03

please give us the results or give us the link. I will not be surprised by the Labour hypocrites. I bet there are more privately educated socialists than the Tories.

Original poster
nearlytoolate · 11/05/2010 10:59

Partly because I was surprised about the facts myself.

OP posts:
MintHumbug · 11/05/2010 10:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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