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

[Warmfire]

and no posh tw*ts like Jacob Rees Mogg

Still local constituency MPs. How do you think they get to be in parliament to be chosen for cabinet?

They haven’t abandoned levelling up as a concept, just the stupid name. Tories had the name but didn’t do it. Labour have abandoned the name but will adopt policies which might actually do it. Which would you prefer?

@Tryingtokeepgoing your argument assumes that only grammars and independent schools offer a quality education. The whole purpose of Starmer's policies, including the VAT that can be used to benefit state schools, is to ensure everyone has improved education and life opportunities. Why do you think you have to have gone to a grammar to achieve success in your chosen field? There are thousands of successful Brits in all walks of life who can prove you wrong.

Interesting! I wonder if their children go/went to comp schools too. Hopefully they focus on investing in comp schools and teacher retention.

The school he attended was an independent school at the time he was there. So it's factually incorrect to say he didn't attend an independent school. The backstory of how it moved from being a selective grammar school to an independent one is relevant in the context of an ideology of eliminating selective schools altogether.

BTW, I'm sorry if the correct use of titles irks you. I think that Baroness Smith and Sir Alan Campbell are also usually referred to by their titles aren't they? And people are don't take offence at that. Any of them can renounce the titles if they wish.

@Tryingtokeepgoing "The school he attended was an independent school at the time he was there."

But not when he started there. And his parents did not pay. So. Disingenuous to refer to him as having been privately educated. Disingenuous to refer to him as Sir.

@Tryingtokeepgoing why does the definition of Starmer's school matter in the scheme of things. See my other comments below.

@RobinStrike "why does the definition of Starmer's school matter in the scheme of things."
I agree. The attempts at "gotchas" about Starmer's background are deeply tedious. His father had his own factory. Not true. They own lots of land. Not true. And so on and so on.

It was a state run grammer until sixth form. He didn't initially attend an independent.

Where do/did Diane Abbott's children go to school?

Is she in cabinet?

@upinaballoon Abbott is not in the Cabinet, and at one point was not even going to be a Labour MP. She is definitely another generation.
However you are right her son went to independent school. Much good it did him. He has had a string of arrests and convictions, and I suspect has mental health problems. But I don't understand what relevance this has?

It's my mistake that I was thinking about Labour MPs rather than Cabinet members. No, she isn't in the Cabinet now. The relevance is that someone up-thread asked where they sent their children.

In time some of them may turn out to be un-posh state-school-educated twats.

If 77% of the current Cabinet attended state schools, does that mean that they went only to state schools, with no mixing of a bit of state and a bit of private?

What about the other 23%? Did they go entirely to private schools? Obviously Keir Starmer is one of the 'mixtures'. Beside him, which individuals make up this 23%?

Do some people automatically decide that anyone who went to a public school, which is, of course, a private school, must be a twat?

It’s not about whether they are twats or not, it’s about whether it’s representative of the country. It still isn’t, as about 7% go private, but it’s a damn sight closer than any other cabinet. It’s important that those leading us have some understanding of how the people they represent live.

OP could have made that point in the first post, instead of gleefully enjoying himself/herself by calling Jacob Rees-Mogg a twat.

Appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Mmmm, is it possible in this life for anyone to understand anyone else's life unless one has walked in that person's shoes and is this a philosophical question?

JRM is a twat though. And would have been at a bog standard comp or if home schooled.

It’s possible to have a better idea or a worse one about what it’s like.

It's not so much an over representation of public school educated politicians, it's the over representation of one particular public school - Eton - that has been a problem. Just look at Camerons and Johnsons cabinets. And, in addition, people (mainly men) who have followed similar career paths and with no experience outside of politics. We need diversity of experience and thought to devise and implement solutions that work for the majority. And Labours new cabinet looks much better than Sunaks in that regard.