Boris Johnson Out: How Conservative Rule Reinforces Structural Privileges
By Jack Rider
Date: 11 August 2022
Boris Johnson holding a Brexit Press Conference on Christmas eve 2020.
Courtesy of Number Ten (2020): https://flic.kr/p/2kk4Dbt
Recently, Boris Johnson has been ousted by his Party due to his failure in dealing with the COVID ‘Partygate’ scandal, and his mismanagement of the sexual allegations against Chris Pincher, of whom Johnson previously appointed Deputy Chief Whip. While most of the Conservative ministers and government officials did resign from their posts in protest of Johnson’s misconduct, one could still notice the former glory of elitism sprinkled throughout the event. There seems to still be a ‘big boys club’ sitting behind the government, with 10 Downing Street taking the lead to cover up for their mischievous acts.
However, the privileges and elitism exercised and demonstrated by the Conservative Party at large, seem to be generally ignored, or accepted by the general electorate. The reason why the Tories are still having a majority in the parliament might be due to the fact that there are no better alternatives, as the Labour Party today has largely accepted the neoliberal consensus established by Margaret Thatcher. However, underlying privileges in political participation are undountedly barriers that limit the political participation of the general public. This prerequisite makes it unjustifiable to ignore the issue.
This article aims to examine what criteria does one needs to become Prime Minister through joining the Tories. We will be looking at David Cameron, Teresa May and Boris Johnson’s journey to the position of Prime Minister, and see if they possessed any systematic advantage.
Aristocratic Background and Personal Success
This section will start with an examination of their family background. All three of them has ties to the old aristocratic class in the Victorian era. Cameron and Johnson’s family were very much involved in British politics and commerce, as well as philanthropy, which could be traced back to the late 19th century.
Cameron was a descendant of King William IV, his maternal great-grandfather being a Conservative MP for Newbury from 1910-1922, and his grandmother being the third daughter of the Earl of Denbigh and Desomnd. The aristocratic background provided his family with a good chance to accumulate wealth, with his father being a senior partner of Panmure Gordon & Co., a renowned stockbroker firm that has been passed along for generations. Two of his great-great-grandfather were involved in Banking, being the director of Chartered Bank of India Australia and China as well as HSBC respectively. Journalist Toby Young has once commented that Cameron was raised being part of the ‘upper-upper-middle class’, and that is very much the case.
While Johnson’s family did not own financial empires, they were nonetheless deeply involved in politics and were part of the aristocracy. His maternal great-great-grandfather, Sir George Williams was a well-known businessman and philanthropist, having founded the YMCA. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1984. On his father’s side, however, his great-grandfather Ali Kemal Bey had served as the Minister of the Interior in the Ottoman Empire, and his father, Stanley Johnson, was once a Conservative MEP (Member of the European Parliament).
May’s family background is much humbler when compared to the other two Prime Ministers. Her father was a chaplain in an Eastbourne hospital, being a Church of England clergyman, and her mother’s support for the Conservative Party motivated her to become a Tory MP later on. Generally, having a ‘Middle class and aristocratic-related’ background seems to be advantageous in helping one secure his/her position in the Conservative Party and the UK political system as a whole.
David Cameron attending a meeting in the EU Parliament with President Schulz to discuss UK reforms.
Courtesy of Martin Schulz (2016): https://flic.kr/p/EbLySg
Oxbridge and the Empire of Network
The strong family background then allows them to enter prestigious schools and built extensive personal networks, which undoubtedly will benefit them in their future political or professional career. All three of them have received higher education in Oxford, with Cameron and Johnson also being alumnus of the Eton college, which has the reputation of being ‘the nurse of England’s statesmen’. Moreover, both Cameron and Johnson joined the Bullingdon Club, an elite dining society at Oxford, known for their ‘posh, super-rich members and their notoriously bad behaviour, including trashing restaurants and student rooms’, using the words of reporter Miranda Norris.
How does entering Oxbridge affect your chance of being part of the social elite? According to research done by Gareth Williams and Ourania Filippakou (2010), the patterns of elite formation in early 21th century Britain showed that more than 20 to 30 per cent of the rich and the power come from Oxbridge. Shockingly, the percentage is already lower when we compare it to the figures from 1901 to 1961, where almost 30% of the Upper Class were educated in Oxbridge.
If we go on further to trace the career pathways of the elites, most of them have headed into the fields of Higher Education, Government Public Service and Law/Medicine upon graduation. By entering Oxbridge, the chance to get involved in politics, various professions and academic research is strongly enhanced since many alumni are already established figures in the field.
As becoming a MP is the first step for joining the Prime Minister race, MPs’ educational background can be used as a benchmark to comprehend how much impact does one’s alma mater has on their political career. According to Montacute and Carr (2017), 87% of the MPs in 2017 are University Graduates, with about 24% receiving their higher education in Oxbridge, and the other 30% heading to Russel Group universities. Moreover, over one in ten of the privately educated MPs went to Eton College.
Theresa May visiting Estonia to reaffirm UK’s promise to uphold European security.
Courtesy of Martin Schulz (2017): https://flic.kr/p/XTfAnh
Job Prosperity and Personal Connections
The three conservative PMs’ path to success precisely demonstrated the importance of networking. Johnson earned his graduate trainee opportunity at The Times through family connections, which he sabotaged himself by inventing a historical quote and got fired. However, his encounter with Daily Telegraph editor Max Hastings during his Oxford SU days landed him his second job at Daily Telegraph’s leading-writing desk.
Cameron was less hectic, but it was also through personal connections that he secured his position in the Conservative Party. He began working for the Conservative Party even before starting college, having contributed as a researcher for his godfather, another Conservative MP. This is a path that he continued after graduating in 1988, when he formally started working for the Conservative Research Department. Again, May was much more subtle, having worked in the Banking sector for about 6 years, before heading into politics, in which she experienced failure in running for MP in Northwest Durham.
However, simply tracing the elite’s path of ascendancy is rather superficial. What we should look at, is the social beliefs and systems that allow them to exercise that form of financial and political monopoly, without the general public voicing out to oppose them. This leads us to the issue of UK’s deeply-ingrained idea of meritocracy. Political Scientist Michael Young (1958) argued that by proposing people could strive for personal success through their merit, one is ‘legitimis[ing] inequality in a way that wasn’t possible before the [rise of the] idea of equality of opportunity’. Of course, in ideal terms, everyone is equal. Everyone, with access to public education and perhaps higher education opportunities, can achieve greatness on their terms.
Nevertheless, statistically and historically, ‘white, aristocratic, middle-class’ people have a systematic advantage in achieving personal accomplishment. With families having numerous generations deeply involved in Politics and Commerce, the wealth possessed by the rich and aristocracy allow their offspring to enjoy excellent education opportunities, which could then get them into Oxbridge. This gives them a head start into some of the most prosperous and powerful careers of all time, as well as direct access to political power.
The British Union Jack soaring in the bright sky.
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