Private schooling

With regard to George Smith’s remarks (Letters, 30 November) on private schooling and the possibility of Labour trying to ban all non-state education, may I point out what one prominent socialist intellectual thought of this a number of years back?

When pilloried by the far Left for sending his son to Eton, George Orwell replied that, like most parents, he simply wanted to send his son to the best school and that happened to be Eton. When pushed on the Eton connection, he replied that he would fight for every school to be brought up to Eton standard.

Jeremy Corbyn was educated at a private school and his chief guru Seamus Milne was schooled at a prominent public school. A touch of hypocrisy, perhaps? Maybe they think the best schooling is not for the likes of those given their opportunities and it is now right to pull others down rather than get the majority up.

ALEXANDER MCKAY New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh