Out of touch ‘toffs’.
Posted by Big John on April 25, 2012
So Tory ‘toffs’ Dave and George have been labled by one of their own backbench MPs as .. ”two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition and no passion to want to understand the lives of others.”
Blimey ! .. Did anyone ever doubt it ?
It’s nothing new. Our governments have nearly always been led by the ‘poshest’ of the ‘posh’. In fact up until the early 20th century every Prime Minister was a member of the elite aristocratic class, and you can bet your life that none of those Dukes, Earls and Marquesses would have known the price of a pint of milk.
It’s probably true that the Battle of Waterloo was “won on the playing-fields of Eton” and even more true that the governing of this country has often been planned from ’behind it’s bike-sheds’.
Although I would like to see a Prime Minister who had been in a ‘proper’ job at some time, I feel that it is more important that he should be an experienced ’statesman’ who inspires confidence, and not one like ”relaxed” Dave, who after a turbulent month has vowed to …
… ”learn some important lessons” !
SilverTiger said
I am not sure what your message is here. Do you hanker for a return to government by titled gentry?
One would indeed hope that highly placed officials such as the Prime Minister would be “experienced statesmen” but experience at that level is not drilled into you in school (not even in Eton) nor is it fed you on a silver spoon. It is acquired by years of activity – including plenty of mistakes – in the field of politics. That sort of experience comes from doing the job and working your way up through the hierarchy.
If you do all that, then it doesn’t matter whether you were born in a castle, a semi in Surbiton or a council flat. What counts is intelligence, ability and the aforementioned experience in the field.
Britain has long been a class-ridden society and it still is. All that changes is how we define our classes. A class-ridden society is also a snobbery-ridden society and snobbery runs both ways: from down to up as well as from up to down. It shouldn’t matter to us whether our Prime Minister is an earl or a postman’s son as long as he does his job well but all to often our loyalties follow our ingrained snobbery.
The backbench MPs’ outburst may be useful as a welcome clearing of the air but it doesn’t actually achieve anything. What would achieve something is that those disgruntled MPs start voting against the government instead of meekly voting as they are told against the promptings of their consciences. A Parliament without rebels is not a true Parliament; it is merely a dictatorship.
Big John said
“Do you hanker for a return to government by titled gentry?”
How could you believe that of me ‘Tiger’ ?
You might know that “come the revolution” I will be digging up those playing-fields before driving my tumbril down The Mall.
To be serious .. “What counts is intelligence, ability and the aforementioned experience in the field”. Doesn’t sound much like our Dave does it ?