New report shows wealthy pull the levers of power

The levers of power are pulled by those from wealth (Photo: flickr/HouseofLords)

Privately educated posh boys have a “vice-like grip” on the most powerful and influential positions in British society—and their grip is getting tighter.

According a new report, Elitist Britain 2025, most judges, FTSE 100 chairs, newspaper columnists and BBC executives are part of a private school old boys’ network.

The report, published by the Sutton Trust, has revealed in the class background of those who shape business, the state, political parties and the media. Even cricket, podcasting and online influencing are dominated by those born rich.

Britain’s elites are five times more likely to have attended a fee-paying school than the general population.

Just 7 percent of the population go to private schools. But 63 percent of those who head the armed forces went to private schools. For senior judges the figure is 62 percent. Half those raking in expenses while having a snooze in the House of Lords went to private schools. And 54 percent of top civil servants went to posh schools.

These “leaders” are also 21 times more likely to have gone to Oxford or Cambridge universities.

Only one percent of the population goes to Oxbridge. But 75 percent of senior judges, 56 percent of the Tory shadow cabinet and 40 percent of Labour cabinet ministers went to Oxbridge.

Private schools are rubbish at education but they teach the rich how to band together, how to pursue their class interests and how to exclude dissenting voices.

Nick Harrison of the Sutton Trust, said, “It’s a disgrace that most of the top jobs in Britain are still dominated by those from privileged education backgrounds, representing a small fraction of the wider population.

“Little progress has been made in opening up positions of power, with those from private schools maintaining a vice-like grip on the most important roles.”

Decades of pleading for top institutions to open their doors to talented working class people have seen no change in the faces at the top.

Any challenge to the deeply entrenched power of these elites will depend not on forcing open the door to the boardroom, but on smashing the boardrooms and the system they represent.

• Read the full report here