Itâs kind of a matter of see above. Jeremy Corbyn isnât part of any of the elites. Heâs neither part of the Old Boyâs Network of wealthy tits that run the Tories or part of the technocratic clique that has run Labour for the last 20 years. The left has a functionally similar system going on, though one with radically different values. So most the Labour front bench went to normal state schools (comprehensives), though there are places like Haverstock School (which is nice, where I used to live) which provided a set of key people. The people tend to be from cosey middle class areas like Highgate, Hampstead, Kentish Town, Primrose Hill, Islington, all within a few miles of each other in North London. They went to the same universities (though werenât in elite clubs), went to the LSE or Harvard for Masters degrees. The Millibands spent their childhoods hanging out with Marxist academics, rather than miners. These people all went to the same Think Tanks, became special advisors to politicians also from these backgrounds etc. Youâll find the same pattern amongst the left wing journalists, with a lot of the politicians also working as left wing journalists, amongst policy advisors, amongst campaign managers, amongst the boards of charities, etc. etc. Theyâre all mates and know each other. Theyâre also really technocratic and think they know better than actual party members.
Jeremy Corbyn is none of those things, his campaign people arenât those things and the people helping him think up policy arenât in those think tanks. So frankly the left elite (which includes the Guardian journalists) are losing their fucking shit. Their friends are going to be out of jobs and their family are going to be out of jobs. So they are throwing any shit they can Corbynâs way.
Good article, but itâs difficult to credit the ostensibly widespread nature of such sentiments towards the Old Boyâs Club in the context of repeat electoral victories for the Conservative Party.
Well thereâs a lot of people who are quite bought into that system. Also the Tories spend a fortune on mitigating that image as much as possible. Then thereâs a big group in the middle who donât really give a shit. What it explains neatly is that thereâs always going to be large groups of people, say all of Scotland, who detest that old boys network so much they will never vote Tory.
EDIT: Also all the stuff about a non functioning democracy. Which is something Iâm really hoping Jeremy Corbyn is going to put on the fucking map (by staking a flag through Boris Johnsonâs still beating heart).