Putting aside anecdata, survivorship bias, etc, at the of the day his parents spent a great deal of money on embedding him among the upper classes. Winchester, and its competitors, are not just a school you happen to pay for. Sending your children to live miles from home is rarely about quality of teaching.
There are many connections made in youth can continue to benefit you for the rest of your life. 33 PMs (of 56 in total) attended one of just 3 secondary schools, and 30 attended the same university. [1]
No one I've seen is commenting on his intelligence, but it is fair to question whether someone who has lived their teenage and adult life in and around the classical instituions of privilege (which are only accessible to and accepting of a minority) is a great choice for running a country having a cost of living crisis.
And I'm not sure where the idea that GPs didnt make that much comes from - £75k (adjusted) in the 90s was (and still is) a lot of money [2].
He lived in Southampton which is where Winchester is (roughly)...I mean it was like 10 miles from where he grew up (I thought about not continuing a reply on this mistake alone...you are just casting about wildly in the dark).
Correct, because the UK has highly-selective schools and has two universities that are much better than the rest. If you just transport someone into Oxbridge, they do not automatically become a success, it is just totally backwards-thinking.
Background makes no difference. Discriminating against someone because they are rich is not any different to discriminating against them because they are poor. Honestly, it is actually a little disturbing to see people conclude openly that because someone went to X school they must be a certain kind of person...awful.
And if you look at the chart, you will see when GPs began to earn a lot of money. I am not quite sure you understand what inflation-adjusted means if you are talking about it being a lot of money, it is the same value then and now...but paying for Winchester would still have been a substantial expense (he had siblings, he has said in interviews that the pressure on him to get a scholarship...which he didn't get...was immense).
This is getting unfortunately derailed. The debate is about whether Rishi's background renders him out of touch, not whether it gave him an unfair advantage.
Original claim (touristtam):
> He is a billionaire with a rich wife that hasn't been on a working class family wages for a very long time if he ever was. He cannot fathom the hardship that he is about to unleash on said working class.
Counter claim (DrBazza):
> he comes from just about the most modest background possible
Counter counter claim (Me):
> his father was a GP, his mother ran a local pharmacy, and he attended a very privileged boarding school
Rishi himself is on the record as making statements such as "I have no working class friends", "I always consider myself professional middle class", and "I tell inner city state school kids to apply to Oxford and talk to them about people like me, and then I shock them by saying I went to Winchester".
I'm not sure of the exact proportion of children attending public school per year in the UK, but I'm willing to bet it's a fraction of a percent. Both his siblings also attended private schools.
Rishi didn't have a "modest" background. He just didn't. Yes, his grandparents could be said to have grafted their way out of the working class. Yes, his parents worked hard to put him through a good education. That's exactly the point: he's never suffered and he doesn't know what being working class is like. He's been in the upper half of the middle class for his whole life.
> Honestly, it is actually a little disturbing to see people conclude openly that because someone went to X school they must be a certain kind of person...awful.
Basing it on the school he attended, which he had little influence over, is indeed nonsensical. Base your opinion on what he's said and done since instead. You'll probably come to the same conclusion though.
There are many connections made in youth can continue to benefit you for the rest of your life. 33 PMs (of 56 in total) attended one of just 3 secondary schools, and 30 attended the same university. [1]
No one I've seen is commenting on his intelligence, but it is fair to question whether someone who has lived their teenage and adult life in and around the classical instituions of privilege (which are only accessible to and accepting of a minority) is a great choice for running a country having a cost of living crisis.
And I'm not sure where the idea that GPs didnt make that much comes from - £75k (adjusted) in the 90s was (and still is) a lot of money [2].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_the...
[2] https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j4385