Does class count when you cast your vote?
Do you care where your MP went to school? Could a politician ever be too posh?
Even if you said no to both those questions, it seems likely that class could be an issue at the next election.
, but there are some who think .
So .
Even though only 7% of the the UK is privately-educated, more than a quarter of our candidates went to fee-paying schools.
And it is the schooling of the Conservative candidates that skews that figure the most.
14% of Lib Dem hopefuls and 7% of Labour candidates went to a private school (bang on that national average), but 42 per cent of those selected by the Tories had a private education.
That still means a majority were state-educated, but it does demonstrate that on schooling at least there is a distinction between the parties.
Does that matter? After all Labour PM Tony Blair was privately-educated while Conservative premier Margaret Thatcher went to a state grammar school - did that influence their politics?
Will Eton-educated Rory Stewart be a worse or better MP in Penrith and the Border than former miner Dave Anderson in Blaydon?
More to the point, would people in Sedgefield notice a difference other than party political if they were represented by Conservative candidate Neil Mahapatra (Eton and Oxford) or by Labour's Phil Wilson (Trimdon Secondary Modern)?
You tell me.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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