The new Archbishop of Canterbury went to Eton...

[JustGiveMeFiveMinutes]

...so did the PM, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Mayor of London and Prince William, our future King.

I'm not sure this is a particularly healthy state of affairs...

what is unreasonable or reasonable about this though??

I am wondering whether iabu to be concerned about it.

Do you think I've posted this in the wrong place?

Osbourne went to St Paul's, not Eton. But I see your point.

They're all chinless toffs. Don't give them another moment's thought!

YANBU
Oh and Nick Clegg went to Westminster

One of MacMillans cabinets was comprised solely of Old Etonians. The people from these schools gravitate to these positions due to their upbringing,education etc. you'll find most of them went to Oxbridge and they studied PPE. That's how it is but I'm happy if it could be changed. Blair went to public school/Oxbridge.

Tony Blair
Went to: Fettes College Edinburgh, St. John?s College Oxford
And is: Former Prime Minister, war criminal
Harriet Harman
Went to: St Paul?s Girls School, University of York
And is: Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal and Minister for Women and Equality
Ed Balls
Went to: Nottingham High School, Keble College Oxford, Harvard University
And is: Schools Secretary
Yvette Cooper
Went to: Eggar?s School, Alton College, Balliol College Oxford, Harvard University, London School of Economics
And is: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Ruth Kelly
Went to: Westminster School (has the highest Oxbridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in the world), Queens College Oxford, London School of Economics
And is: Former Secretary of State for Transport, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Minister for Women and Equality and Secretary of State for Education and Skills
Stephen Byers
Went to: Chester Grammar School, Liverpool John Moores
And is: Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
Barry Gardiner
Went to: High School of Glasgow, Haileybury and Imperial Service College, University of St Andrews, Harvard University, Corpus Christi College Cambridge
And is: MP for Brent North
Geoff Hoon
Went to: Nottingham High School, Jesus College Cambridge
And is: Former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, Leader of the House of Commons and Labour Party Chief Whip
Quentin Davies
Went to: Dragon School, Leighton Park School, Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, Harvard University
And is: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence responsible for Defence Equipment and Support
David Miliband
Went to: Haverstock Comprehensive School, Corpus Christi College Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
And is: Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Ed Miliband
Went to: Haverstock Comprehensive School, Corpus Christi College Oxford, London School of Economics
And is: Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Chris Bryant
Went to: Cheltenham College, Mansfield College Oxford
And is: Minister of State for Europe and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Gordon Marsden
Went to: Stockport Grammar School, New College Oxford, Warburg Institute, Harvard University
And is: MP for Blackpool South
Mark Fisher
Went to: Eton College, Trinity College Cambridge
And is: MP for Stoke Central, former Minister for the Arts
Margaret Hodge
Went to: Bromley High School, Oxford High School, London School of Economics
And is: Former Minister for Children, current Minister of State for Culture and Tourism
John Whitaker (aka Jack) Straw
Went to: Brentwood School (£3.5k a term boarding), University of Leeds
And is: Former Home Secretary, current Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Could ho on but cant be arsed really makes me yawn wen the le make out that the MPs amoung there ranks were some how born in the getto

Its not jist the right had a very nice up bringing dont you know so YANBU to think that theres somthing a miss but then again my most people would rather live on beans on toast and semd there kids private than send there kids to the type of sink schools that are on offer to most people

But of your getting off its some some the right who have this privilege the yabu

I guess none if those people ever had to listen to their parents ad a child in the 70s, desperately trying to pay bills and robbing Peter to pay Paul like me and dh had too.

When they say we are all in this together they just havnt a clue about how people really live. They have never worried about paying their electric bill, desperately hoping the debit card is accepted at the supermarket and dreading bills dropping through the door.

They were born rich and will die rich.

Don't say they are bad or unkind people but they just have no understanding of real life money or employment issues for the ordinary voters.

As for the display of wealth and pomp by both the catholic and Protestant churches recently well just absolutely disgraceful and vomit inducing.

The body my son said a similar thing he said the pope wants to help the poor so why dont he sell his castle and his pope gold

I have to say my boy is right the church is so rich they need to dig deeper into there pockets

Welby is okay.

Posh people can be. Shocker.

domjolly it's not a matter of the Catholic church selling their assets, because that would be gone in an instant.

But because your son is only a child I don't expect him to know any better.

As I'm sure you understand, it's to do with changing ideology and giving people hope in this life and not the next and the means to do it.

That would undermine most religions and are things I don't expect a child to be able to understand. I do expect adults to understand them though.

So....

The Tories went to major public schools and the Labour lot went to minor public schools.

Dom, it may surprise you to know that the Labour party is not currently in power, so your copy and paste is a little outdated.
Oh, and some of them have gone to state school. So your point is?

Not sure what point you are trying to illustrate really....

Surely the types of schools/universities mentioned above tend to turn out well-educated, articulate, creative individuals who are able to think outside the box and understand complex policy issues. I can't see why it is therefore a bad thing that many of our politicians have been educated to this level, seeing as they are in charge of our economy etc.

Also, how many of these people went to these schools on scholarships or bursaries? Some of the schools mentioned above offer very generous bursaries which by definition are aimed at children from less well-off backgrounds.

I'm sure a great many MPs also went to state schools and then either went to less prestigious universities or the university of life, they just don't tend to make it into these kinds of lists....

Last week Welby backed an open letter by churchmen criticising Government policy. He didn't sign it because that wouldn't be protocol but he did give his backing.

I'd guess that someone with a background in the City, who apparently was recommended by Dave, can't be dismissed as the beardy-weirdy that Rowan Williams was unfortunately portrayed as.

I don't care what school he went to. Let's see what he does.

I don't put much store by comments that dismiss Tories as outdated old fogies who can't relate to the "common [wo]man" just because of the school they went to. Compared to who? The Labour Party? I suspect that is the point Domjolly was making.

TheCraicDealer thank you that was the point i was making people keep banging on about the tories not understanding the "common man" as if those labour MPS have had a hard knocked life , lived off there wits and were raised by fagen

How is the parents choice of school the fault of the child? I don't understand this argument at all. So they weent to Eton/Fettes/Whatever. I'd rather the people running the country had the best education available on offer. Note I said On Offer, just because some may be thick as pigshit doesn't mean that the education system in these schools is bad.
David Camon et al may be guilty of many things but their Parents sending them to private school isn't one of them.

The Church of England is not so wealthy anymore, most priests live on very small wages and the vast majority don't come from massively privileged backgrounds. Justin Welby is quite unusual in that respect. What does it matter where he went to school? I have to say I don't ask constantly where people went to school - it really does not concern me. Who cares so long as they do their well.

limitedperiodonly well said

I agree that it's wrong to dismiss Conservative voters and politicians out of hand thecraicdealer

But are you saying that if you vote or represent Labour you can't come from a number of backgrounds too?

That seems a little shortsighted.