A key message the Labour Party are seeking to get across is that David Cameron is not fit to be Prime Minister because he went to Eton. Gordon Brown's PPS Ian Austin and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears have both been pushing this theme in recent days. Usually it is a matter of abuse rather than rational argument. But so far as I can follow the logic the point is that, at best, Cameron must be out of touch having been to a fee paying school or, at worst, he is the class enemy and with such a background and must be keen to keep the poor downtrodden
But where did the cabinet go to school? True, Labour has replaced Old Fettesian Tony Blair with state-educated Gordon Brown, almost half the cabinet have attended fee-paying schools.
Alistair Darling went to Loretto and Jack Straw was at Brentwood School. Hilary Benn was sent to Westminster Prep before his parents dispatched off to Holland Park Comprehensive. Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman went to St Paul's Girls' School, while Ruth Kelly was at Westminster. Shaun Woodward to the fee paying Bristol Grammar School. Geoff Hoon, Ed Balls (both Nottingham High School), James Purnell (the Royal Grammar School in Guildford) and Tessa Jowell (St Margaret's in Aberdeen) were all privately educated. Then there is Lord Malloch-Brown, not technically a member of the cabinet but attends cabinet meetings where he speaks at great length. He went to Marlborough.
Perhaps it is considered by the Labour Party uniquely unacceptable to have been to Eton. But then if Labour believe that why isn't the Old Etonian Labour MP for Stoke on Trent Mark Fisher deselected?
