“Who says the Tories have ditched identity politics and class war?”

Nobody who watches what they do, rather than reading what their cheerleaders write.

Brrrring Brrrring

Hello?

Is that the Birmingham Erdington Labour Party?

Yes

Its xxxx from head office. You know Harriet?

Er…Harman?

Yes – well her husband, Jack, wants to be an MP and I need you to put him on the shortlist to replace that baseball cap guy you have as an MP who is standing down.

Well – actually we already have a really good slate of well-qualified candidates – local councillors etc.

I don’t think you understand – Harriet wants him to get a safe seat. Just Give Him a Fucking Job.

Err…ok

The strength of weak ties. I wish I knew people who knew the right people.

Oh come on, how many children of lefties, “educated” at steiner schools and the university of formerpoly (and thus basically unemployable) have landed a job at the BBC/The Arts council/Some ananymous quango, on the basis of their parents connections.

@4 You do come out with some odd things sometimes Matt.

Why don’t you go and find out and write a post on it?

Well from personal experience I know of at least 2 (kids who got good jobs at left wing institutions on the basis of their parents connections). My point is that nepoitism/cronyism is not a preserve of any particular group, left or right.

The issue is not left or right, it is claiming to believe in a meritocracy whilst taking advantage of family connections.

He has done that. Thus his principles are questionable at best. Though I’m not sure I needed this story to confirm this for me, it is blatantly obvious just by listening to his claim to be Dave the Dartman in the Mail. A point also confirmed by the hundreds of Mailers who highlighted it in the comments section.

There is some truth to what Matt Munro says; plenty of examples of “leftwing” nepotism exist.

What’s important is whether the politician in question believes in levelling the playing field or entrenching nepotism. David Cameron’s campaign priorities – raising IHT, fighting any attempt to extend wealth taxes, framing arguments about Death Taxes – clearly point to a man who believes very deeply in the importance of aristocracy and privilege.

Can anyone tell me why ‘meritocracy’ is actually desirable?

Okay, it’s not based on race, or class, or sex, but its just another way of legitimating inequality.

@Shatterface

But some forms of inequality can be legitimate.

@James Graham

Ah, probably correct, we’re all flawed. But right wingers tend to be richer and richer people tend to have more opportunities to nepotise (that a word?). But it’d be interesting to find out if it is any one political spectrums particular preserve.

When it comes to David Cameron, well, his past actions don’t seem to match his current rhetoric.

Left Outside,

I don’t think Cameron’s current rhetoric matches his current rhetoric (if you get my meaning).

C’mon. David Cameron has an illustrious ancestry. He is a direct descendant of William IV, who reigned (1830-37) as monarch and was Queen Victoria’s immediate predecessor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom

“At his death William had no surviving legitimate children, though he was survived by eight of the ten illegitimate children he had by the actress Dorothea Jordan, with whom he cohabited for 20 years.”

So much for family connections.

Sorry but who is Emily Benn precisely?

If any of this third-hand (and third-rate) tittle-tattle is true it is a shame. But it is hardly much more than that.

“If any of this third-hand (and third-rate) tittle-tattle is true it is a shame. But it is hardly much more than that.”

David Cameron even looks a bit like William IV.

The Conservative Party is simply reverting to its traditional values.

Sir William Douglas-Home was the last Conservative PM to be educated at Eton and he was inadvertently defeated at the general election in 1964. The subsequent upstarts who served as Conservative PMs – Ted Heath, Mrs Thatcher and John Major – were all educated at grossly inferior schools. Ted Heath and Mrs Thatcher went to their respective local grammar schools. John Major went to Kings College, Wimbledon, a fee-paying school, but compensated for that by leaving school with only one O-Level.