Privately-educated fill top jobs in ‘deeply elitist’ Britain

Britain is still "deeply elitist", with privately-educated pupils and Oxbridge graduates continuing to dominate top roles in society, a report has warned.

Many of the nation’s judges, politicians, armed forces chiefs, journalists, TV executives, public officials and sports stars attended fee-paying schools before going to study at Oxford and Cambridge, it suggests.

This stark lack of diversity means many of Britain’s key institutions are not representative of the public they serve, and the people running them may not understand the daily issues facing people from different backgrounds, according to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

The study analysed the backgrounds of more than 4,000 individuals holding top jobs, concluding that Britain’s elite is still “formed on the playing fields of independent schools” and “finished in Oxbridge’s dreaming spires”. More than seven in 10 (71%) senior judges, 62% of senior armed forces officers, over half of permanent secretaries (55%) — the most senior civil servants in government — 53% of senior diplomats, 45% of public body chairs, 44% of the Sunday Times Rich List, 43% of newspaper columnists, 35% of national rugby teams, a third (33%) of the England cricket team and 26% of BBC executives attended a fee-paying school, the study found.

Former private school pupils are also over-represented in politics, with half of the House of Lords attending an independent school, along with over a third (36%) of the Cabinet, a third (33%) of MPs, and 22% of the shadow cabinet.

Nationally, around 7% of the population attended a private school.

The statistics also reveal the numbers in each profession who went to Oxford or Cambridge. The most over-represented professions were the judiciary, with 75% of senior judges attending one of these two universities, along with 59% of the Cabinet, 57% of permanent secretaries, and 50% of diplomats. In addition, 47% of newspaper columnists are Oxbridge graduates.

The study compares this with the adult population, which shows 62% have not been to university, and less than one in 100 graduated from Oxford or Cambridge.

“Our examination of who gets the top jobs in Britain today found elitism so stark that it could be called ‘social engineering’,” it said, adding that the “sheer scale of the dominance of certain backgrounds” raises questions about whether getting a top job is about ability or knowing the right people.

Commission chairman Alan Milburn said “Our research shows it is entirely possible for politicians to rely on advisors to advise, civil servants to devise policy solutions and journalists to report on their actions having all studied the same courses at the same universities, having read the same books, heard the same lectures and even been taught by the same tutors.”

The study called for a national effort to “break open” Britain’s elite.