Educational background of Andy Burnham’s cabinet

[Wintom]

This makes interesting reading. More women in this cabinet than ever before.
https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/sutton-trust-cabinet-analysis-2026/

Some of them are real people rather than just a bunch of southern toffs from Eton.

It took me a minute or two to make sense of this paragraph.

Really?! So people from the south who went to Eton don’t live lives too? How tedious

personally I’m more concerned about the business backgrounds of the cabinet. I’m sick to death of career politicians with no idea how growth is generated making these bonkers decisions

Trump sold himself as a businessman. And see how that is working out.

I don't follow how a business background is needed. After all, the Tories are supposed to be the Business party. And after 14 years of them everything should be working fantastic. Yet labour were elected.

I would take that as meaning that the Tory model was not working. Or at the minimum, that the electorate wanted to try something else. Or it could mean that people were not keen on the "Robber Barron" style of capitalism of the Eton elite, and want to try the small business "shop keeper approach". All businesses are not the same after all.

And thinking about it, I would say that a career politician is a businessperson. They are effectively self-employed contractors. Where they are the product, and they are bidding for new contracts every few years. And they have to do a lot of retraining for each new "contract".

I don't really care about this stuff - I mean which school they went to.

just out of interest, the majority are Oxbridge

And they have almost zero experience of private business. That's the bit that worries me. However, I would take somebody who left school with no GCSEs and has a lot of business experience because in my experience they have a lot of problem solving skills and they learn quickly, which I imagine is very important in government.

Quote " I would take somebody who left school with no GCSEs and has a lot of business experience because in my experience they have a lot of problem solving skills and they learn quickly, which I imagine is very important in government."

I don't know about that. Government is about getting things right, not taking short cuts to get things out the door.

And who is a business person responsible to ? The shareholders. Not the people without a voice, nor the customers. Look at the water companies as an example of private business. They put raw sewerage into rivers rather than let their shareholders down. They fight against government in the name of making money.

Nah. I reckon we need people who understand how government and the civil service work.

@RedTagAlan that’s so interesting

You’ve immediately thought of a sort of corporate set up with shareholders and stuff

I was thinking of people who have done the work of setting up, had to understand products, creation, development, finding a market, how different prices affect custom etc

Also, the practicalities of employing people, storage, the impact of the price of utilities on the business, dealing with customers.. in fact, hospitality was at the front of my mind when I was thinking this but quickly followed up by people selling a physical product.

Of course over a lifetime someone might start out creating a small business and then being the CEO of something bigger.

But it’s interesting how we’ve got a different definition of experience in business. I was basically thinking about practicalities - which often feels like something politicians don’t really know about.

I have long maintained that what I’d really like to see politicians do, if they haven’t done it already, is something like a supermarket job and then needing to get the night bus home afterwards. I’m just so tired of them not having a clue what ordinary people are like.

work experience for politicians!

Some of them are real people rather than just a bunch of southern toffs from Eton.

Kanishka Narayan, minster for artificial intelligence is an old Etonian.

I wouldn't over-value business experience. I used to freelance for Jeremy Hunt's old company, and getting paid was a nightmare and a job in itself. Didn't exactly inspire confidence...

But the vast majority of the economy is SMEs

How can they be developing policy around that when they know nothing about it?

didn’t we already have this debacle when the business secretary admitted he hadn’t understood the impact of changes to hospitality?

I’m sick to death of politicians legislating about things they know nothing about

They could at least get decent advisers from outside the system

For years now it has felt like they are just playing at running the country - well since Boris Johnson. I actually think Theresa may put some thoughts into it. But also her chancellor was criticised for being too much of a numbers man or too much of an accountant or something.

I would really like somebody keeping an eye on making sure the maths adds up!

I have done that stuff you mention re business. Automation is my thing. Want to look at a line, a product, a component to cut costs, that's my field. You will own at least one of the products I have worked on to cut costs on. In fact, I am working on a new product idea at the moment. I am at the initial design and concept stage on CAD.

I can design you an automated assembly line, cost it, project plan it, risk assess it, near anything on it. I can even wire it and program it.

But ask me how to reduce rough sleeping, how to draft legislation and get it passed, or how to juggle local authority budgets, I have no idea.

I would rather people who know how to do that stuff ,do that stuff.

@RedTagAlan no one would put you in charge of solving rough sleeping!

But you have experience that is relevant to business so that would be your job

Blimey, this should not be such hard work. Isn’t this obvious?

also, it sounds as if your experience is very specialist. There are plenty of generalists about. Myself included. I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye on this government for work.

they're clearly a bright lot and majority female I think. Mostly they have had fairly ordinary backgounrds (Burnham especially, DH grew up very close to where he did). All of this is good.
I do think it's worrying that it's mostly career politicians with little experience of working in actual businesses or even public sector organisations. Would be really to see more ex teachers, nurses, doctors for example. An actual teacher leading the Department for Education might have real credibility.

That all said it's all worlds away from when I was growing up (80s) and except for Thatcher, it was all middle aged posh men in suits.

Why is it such hard work? And no it is not obvious. That is why I am not auto agreeing with you.

You said, quote :"And they have almost zero experience of private business. That's the bit that worries me.".

I have masses of experience of private business. And when you have a new PM who says he wants to tackle rough sleeping, I do think it relevant to point out that my experince in business would not equip me in any way to deal with that issue ( Although factories in China do have a good dormitory system for their workers, that might be worth a try).

And when you say my experience seems very specialist, it's just run of the mill manufacturing. Could I use some of that experience to run a corner shop. Of course. Could I use it to work on homelessness? I don't see the fit.

Sure there are somethings I could slot into. But not without a lot of re-training and learning.

@RedTagAlan ”Could I use it to work on homelessness? I don't see the fit.”

It’s hard work because there are some things that are so bleeding obvious, like the sun rises in the morning. It shouldn’t need saying that you can’t work on the homeless thing. And I’ve said it twice now.

<headdesk>

But that is a big part of what government do. That is the difficult stuff.

Factories and business can mostly look after themselves. And if anyone wants to know what policy an industrialist wants, just ask an industrialist.

I can confidently say that one thing an idusrialist won't say they want is a reduction in homelessness.

I’d like a female PM next, plus the SME point below is a good one.

Raised in a one bedroom flat in Cardiff where he slept on the kitchen floor before winning a fully funded scholarship. Not much wealth or privilege in that background.