Westminster's class war over private schools

Westminster Insider

For centuries, Westminster has been dominated by politicians who attended some of the most prestigious schools in the country. This week on Westminster Insider, host Sascha O'Sullivan finds out whether public schools still dominate or if state educated Rachel Reeves and Bridget Phillipson's move to tax fees reflects the end of the era of Etonians.

Sascha visits Eton College and takes a tour around the art school and the theater, hears from an old boy about the kind of education children receive there — and discovers why our prime ministers are far more likely to have been attended this school than any other.

Former Labour adviser and old Etonian Patrick Hennessey tells Sascha the confidence a school such as his alma mater instills can easily slip into arrogance.

FT journalist and author Simon Kuper explains why privately educated politicians have always tended to banded together in Westminster — and how that can leave those that attended less prestigious institutions out in the cold.

Keir Starmer's former adviser Donjeta Miftari describes coming to work in SW1 as a former comprehensive pupil and immediately noticing the networks which the independent sector fosters beyond the school itself.

Former David Blunkett adviser Conor Ryan recalls the fights with private school heads when the Blair government axed the state-funded assisted places scheme.

Sam Freedman, education expert and former adviser to Michael Gove, explains how the former education's secretary's background informed his attitude to education reform.

And Sascha travelled to Brentwood, a private school in Essex, where headteacher Michael Bond tells her Reeves' decision to put VAT on private schools was "punishing" them unfairly, as the private sector was making strides towards making fee-paying schools less exclusive.

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