77% of the new Cabinet attended state schools - that's 22 Cabinet secretaries

[Warmfire]

and no posh tw*ts like Jacob Rees Mogg

You seem to be misunderstanding my point.

No posh twats - strongly implying that posh people are twats.

JRM is just an example that the OP uses of a posh twat.

Of course it's not ok to discriminate against individual people because of where they went to school. That doesn't mean that it's not ok to say it's a good thing that the new cabinet isn't dominated by Old Etonians and their ilk, some of whom probably barely have a clue about how ordinary people live. I was a contemporary at the same college as Jacob Rees Mogg. Even in an Oxford college he was a curiosity and a laughing stock because he was so obviously a breed apart.

Yes, I agree with the divisive presence of JRM.

However, the OP does refer to posh twats, implying that posh people are twats and that isn't OK.

Starmer went to Reigate grammar, he got a bursary for 6th form after it went private.

That's right. So he attended private 6th form.

So you're posh if you go to grammar or private!? My dd passed for grammar as she worked hard. Trust me we are not 'posh twats.'...

I don't know for a fact, but I imagine Keir's grammar school had to turn into a private school because the labour government of the 60s abolished grammars.

And much good it did him. It didn't get him elected did it?

Starmer's school went private while he was there. (Same school as David Walliams - although I think it was private before he got there)

I am aware of that. But if he and his family found private schools so utterly offensive, he could have moved for 6th form.

And Keir would have had to do well in an exam to go to the grammar school anyway.

So he's been to a selective school, which then turned private.

Oh come on, the fact the Rees-Mogg grew up with wealth is massively relevant. Do you really think he'd have got to be in such a prominent position had he been raised on a sink estate and attended a failing comp? Likewise Johnson, if he'd had a sink estate upbringing I'd bet money he would have ended up in prison due to his disregard for rules, not in number ten.

Are you for real!!!!

I think what’s fabulous is that they are clearly extremely hard working, driven, highly intelligent people who have got where they are through genuine hard work and not nepotism.

Our new education secretary grew up in a council house in Sunderland. She went to Oxford University. I would say this makes her far more qualified to have an opinion on state education than someone who has absolutely no idea about how normal people live their lives.

The top 6 in the cabinet have an impressive record of hard work and intelligence taking them from state education in often tricky circumstances to excellence. I can’t do anything than admire that more than decidedly average wealthy men (I’m looking at you Boris and co) achieving success through nepotism.

Don’t feed them.

I think so. Unbelievable.

Angela Rayner had a baby at 16 and left school with no qualifications. She entered the world of politics in 2015 and is now the deputy prime minister. If that isn’t an achievement I don’t know what is.

It's an interesting point that you have made about the education secretary growing up in a council house and going to state school. I wonder who in Labour knows exactly what's going on in private schools right now. Real life, current knowledge. Because they think they can just slap a tax on - who really has current knowledge and experience of what's going on?

This is indeed a fantastic achievement. And shows social mobility.

But it in no way justifies OP calling people "posh twats" because they were born into a richer family/went to private school etc.

I highly doubt it.

Do you think the Eton posh boys had any idea about the state system ? Is that why they slashed budgets to the bone and left the vast majority of our nation’s children in crumbling schools riddled with raacs and asbestos ? Is that why they did nothing to tackle the teacher retention and recruitment crisis ? Is that why Sen budgets are non existent and TA’s leaving in droves ?

Time for a bit of Benthamism. The greatest happiness in the greatest number. 93% of our children go to state school. Time to make them happy.

Obvs.

I do think it justifies being less impressed with their achievements though.

I am no fan of Boris and never voted for him or Brexit.

But I wonder if you know anything deeper than "average wealthy man" about him.

His mother was in and out of mental institutions. I would say that is a seriously unfortunate childhood. He ended up at Eton because he was phenomenally intelligent. His abusive father (who was mostly away) didn't want to look after him and the year before the Eton entry/exam basically told a headmaster to get Boris in there. The headmaster said it wasn't possible. But Boris got a scholarship through intelligence and hard work.

It's very easy to think people who are rich have an easy life. And often very wrong.