Do you think that this country will have a working class PM?

[EddyF]

Do you think it’s possible and likely? someone who has gone to a bog-standard school; rented or grow up in council stock, or just someone who has lead a ordinary life like the majority in the U.K?

I don’t understand how people can only vote for the elite despite what the ordinary man and woman goes through in this country. The problems aren’t new with the NHS/benefit system/classism/immigration/no funding for society to actually run effectively. But they keep being voted in. Why? Twice this week people have told me they would rather vote Tories again as long as its not Labour. One with MH and can't get the proper help and the other one who is still working at senior age.

These issues haven’t just started and have been a sore point for a long time under the tories. Which begs the question, why do people vote for them? What vetted interest would the ordinary person have to vote the same party all of the time? It can’t just be about immigration ( what have the tories sorted out effectively regarding immagration?). I am not white but I have worked with white working class service users with very little in life but follow the rhetoric of the conservatives. Knowing damn well they will never reach the lifestyle of the party they're voting.

How did The Sun manage to get a large number of their readership to vote for tories? time and time again. First time might make sense as people desire change, but over and over again? Even if it is about immigration, don’t they have children and families who they can see struggle with these policies?

I get why businesses may vote the way they do, but the people in this country confuse me. Why not vote Conservative and if you're not happy with them in the next election, you don't touch them? why stick with them?

I was born in the U.K. My primary education was in France and we lived in the USA for some time. All childhood holidays in Africa mainly. With all of the faults with the American system (especially for non-white people/margainlised groups), it is more fluid in getting yourself out of poverty/access to social mobility.

All my International friends from Africa to the US are doing better than me, despite us all studying/holding same qualifications. It feels impossible buying a property here despite earning on paper a very decent salary and being a professional. My friends/family abroad all seem to own/build even if they earn less/same.

Once you're paying approx 2K in rent in London (yes you can move out but most people have family/work/community built there),how can you save for a significant deposit with rent, bills, car-note etc? wouldn't most government/policy makers want to help the youth in prosperity since the western world have essentially the systems to make a society less unfair/workable?

I am not saying everyone is poor in this country. It's just a lot of people are suffering needlessly due to mismanagementof the country where only a smaller number get to enjoy life like how it should be.

I actually think it's better to abstain voting than voting the same people/party that have communicated verbally and non-verbally that they do not give a fuck.

Kier Starmer comes from a pretty ordinary background. Grammar school boy.

And it’s depressing. I can’t even remember Labour that much as I was quite young (ish). Where I wasn’t impacted by policies and the real world.

Even when I’m OK financially, you can’t really enjoy it because your friends/family/colleagues… are going through it and the atmosphere around you is one of worry. It makes even the town centres depressing as people walk with the world on their shoulders. Plus you worry about the people you know going through bad financial/ service cuts/hospitals etc.

I was going to mention Callaghan.

His father died when he was quite young and his family were very poor as a result. He didn't go to a grammar school and, although he got a place at university, he couldn't afford to go. I think he joined the civil service after leaving school.

Not in the "normal" person way OP means. It's probably a bit like me - dad grew up in a council house but then got a private school scholarship. Both parents worked in financial services, bought a nice house, probably appeared middle class. Then I went to Durham, with a load of people who I knew as boozy students are now Important In London.

That's the key. You don't need to have gone to Eton but you probably need to have got in to e.g. Oxford and made the kind of connections that can help you lead a party.

I could see it- Angela Rayner would be great

She can barely string a grammatically fluent sentence. How embarrassing would it be having her represent the country on a world stage.

Rayner got into politics via the trade union route. She was a care worker who became a union rep and then a union official.

It's very hard to do that these days, which says a lot about her drive and determination.

As others said, Maggie Thatcher was as working class as they come. And despite what economically illiterate mob say, she saved the country at a time when the country was in a similar mess as it is now. In terminal decline. She brought the country kicking and screaming into the 20th century. She made some mistakes like all politicians do, but she was the last decent PM this country had.

How amazing would it be to have her represent the working people of this country.?She can’t be that unable to string words together if she’s made it to the front bench of the shadow cabinet.

She’d probably start ranting and raving and calling other leaders names in her ‘oi scum’ style. Imagine that.

No - more than thousand years of serfdom means most people still roll over and bare their throat in submission when they hear a posh accent.
To be honest I have been known to use my posh voice if I need to get my own way and it really does work.
Sadly English people really aren’t ready to throw off the shackles yet

Yep

Agree with @Brieandcamembert on AR

I don't know who ar represents... I thought the heart of the issue with labour is they have abandoned their core base?.. Ie the working class?

I've not seen evidence they care at all.

Margaret Thatcher wasn't from a working class background. Ted Heath was, as was Jim Callahan.

The problem with this country now is that people care more about labels than accomplishment and competence. What happens when the working class leader turns out as crap as the ones we have now. The whole crop of people in public life are low grade mediocres. Crossing a working class leader won’t change the outcome. Being working class doesn’t automatically make you competent.

l think you need to understand Wes Streeting’s background. One of 5, single mum. And plenty of other stuff too. He was bright. That’s what pulled him out of the WC.

But l think his backgroubd is about as WC as they come.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Streeting

I think Margaret Thtcher's father owned two shops, so that would make her lower middle class.

I heard her speak at an event some years ago, 2015 or thereabouts. She was very articulate and excellent at thinking on her feet when she was doing Q&As.

Wes Streeting's family were really poor when he was a child, not just working class but living in poverty. His mum was very young when she had him, single parent, though his dad was actively in his life.

Not like Kier "my dad was a toolmaker" Starmer who actually owned a factory.

Keir Starmer is not working class - his father owned the factory he was a toolmaker in.

Snap @hellsbells99 😂

well, no, because once you enter politics, you start getting well funded.

Cross post @AHugeTinyMistake !

Wes Streeting was one of 7/8 - 5 brothers, a sister and a half-sister. According to the Wiki link.

Yes. But because he doesn’t have a regional accent he won’t be perceived as working class. It’s odd, I’ve met many people with regional accents who seem to truly believe they’re working class and salt of the Earth even if they’ve had a very privileged background. It seems if you speak ‘standard’ (sorry can’t think of what else to call it?) English you’ll always be perceived as middle class even when you’re not

A lot of successful people (ie those with the skills, experience and leadership qualities to be an mp especially cabinet) are put off by:

• the relatively poor pay
• the poor hours/working conditions, especially if you are a parent
• the London-centric nature of politics
• the realisation that its a bloody awful task. There's never enough money to keep everyone happy so its a constant battle choosing which essential spending has to be cut/underfunded.