THE elite PATH TO WESTMINSTER
NEARLY ONE IN THREE MPS WENT TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND NEARLY ONE IN FOUR WENT TO OXBRIDGE
ALMOST a quarter of current MPs completed their undergraduate degrees at Oxbridge, compared with fewer than one per cent of the general population.
Data from education think tank The Sutton Trust reveals that a staggering 23 per cent of MPs got their degrees from Oxford or Cambridge.
A further 29 per cent attended Russell Group universities, while 33 per cent went to other universities, and one per cent of studied abroad.
Those who went to Oxbridge account for 30 per cent of Conservative MPs - or 95 people. That is significantly higher than the 21 per cent of Labour MPs (54 in total) who also attended Oxbridge, and two of the 12 Liberal Democrat MPs (17%) who did the same. In fact, more than half of Theresa May’s current cabinet went to Oxbridge - including herself. The Sutton Trust’s report claims that “Whilst it is not surprising that many MPs are well educated, these institutions are still disproportionately attended by the better-off.”
In order to get accepted into Oxbridge, applicants must have an impeccable educational record and perform well in additional exams and interviews set by the universities.
But the proportion of MPs who went to Oxbridge is declining over time.
In John Major’s 1997 Conservative government, more than half of his party’s 336 seats were filled by Oxbridge graduates - some 171 MPs.
By 2017, that had fallen to 99 MPs or 30 per cent of Tory seats.
Some argue that private educations streamline students to give them a better advantage of getting an offer from Oxbridge than those attending comprehensive or grammar schools.
In fact, nearly a third of all current MPs (29 per cent) went to private school - making them four times more likely to have done so than the general population.
MPs who did go to private school account for 45 per cent of the Conservative Party - or 142 people.
There are currently 20 MPs who went to Eton, and all are members of the Conservative Party. Some 14 per cent of Labour MPs also attended private schools, or 36 people. Three Lib Dem MPs went to private schools, as did two members of parliament for the SNP. Again, the proportion of MPs who have been privately educated has declined over the years. Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 Conservative government saw a staggering 73 per cent of Tory MPs - or 247 - come from private schools. Some 18 per cent of Labour MPs, or 36, were also privately educated at the time.