Posh gits and (upper-)class heroes

[mirrorshard]

The very rich are not like you and I.
No, they have more money.

Yes, this is a post about Boris Johnson. Feel free to skip.

A lot of the Boris-criticism-criticism I've been seeing lately can be more or less summed up as "don't hate him for being a posh Tory prat". After all, we wouldn't dream of saying that someone wasn't qualified for an elected position because they were too working-class, right?

The problem with that is that the two aren't equivalent. Because our Mayor has always been rich, he's always been privileged and insulated - he's been surrounded by other people of his own class, race, and wealth level to a greater extent than any council-estate hoodie, first at private school and then at Oxbridge. He's never been forced to work at something he didn't want to do, never run the risk of homelessness or bad credit, never had to live hand to mouth. (To the best of my knowledge, at least. I may be wrong about that. If so, please correct me.)

The fact that he went to Eton depresses me more than the Oxford education - after all, many people manage to get through Oxford without being ruined. (And I should stress that this isn't linked to party affiliation. At the moment, they're all posh gits.) But he was a member of the Bullingdon Club, like Cameron, there. For those of you not familiar with the term, they're a bunch of yobs who dress up in penguin costumes and go out to smash up restaurants.

So, like David Cameron (notorious for surrounding himself with others of his own background) he has a far smaller range of people he can identify with, empathise with, and relate to than someone like Ken Livingstone with a more rounded education and socialization. I'm not trying to say he can't, or that he has no interest in it - just that being a posh toff brings with it a lot of disadvantages when it comes to relating to ordinary people, and posh toffs are statistically much more likely to be out of touch with ordinary people than the rest of us are.

What I'd like to see - though there are more than a few problems with the idea - is a rule that nobody can stand for public office unless they've spent at least six months on Government benefits in the past.

Comments

[malvino.livejournal.com]

The fact is that he didn't get to chose to be born rich, and there's no reason why he should be excluded from direct participation in democracy just because he was. Oh, and I've never been on benefits, I don't think it's the norm.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

he's been surrounded by other people of his own ... race

You do know his wife is half-indian don't you? His mother-in-law is called Dip Singh.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

a rule that nobody can stand for public office unless they've spent at least six months on Government benefits in the past

I would support that policy :¬)

Or, they can just receive minimum wage for their public office. That'd do me. Might make Bozzer a bit keener on the minimum wage, methinks!

On the point about racism - it is quite possible for people to be tolerant of one race but hateful, rude or just plain crass about another. Additionally, when I was married to a non-white partner, I observed some pretty shocking examples of racism in their family (British Asian). Just because his wife is half-Indian doesn't make his remarks about watermelon smiles and picininnies any more acceptable.

[souldier-blue.livejournal.com]

When I was unemployed I didn't qualify for benefits as my partner was earning minimum wage in a temp job.

[midnightmelody.livejournal.com]

Inexperience and insulation seems to be a totally different issue from 'first-hand personal experience'. For example, most TeachFirst recruits haven't ever been on benefits, but the daily experience of working with pupils from less privileged backgrounds hardly equates to an insulated or inexperienced viewpoint.