Tory Cabinet Minister says party needs more MPs who have worked in Morrisons

Justine Greening, Conservative MP for Putney and Secretary of State for International Development, has said that her party needs more MPs who have worked in places like Morrisons.

Greening, who grew up in Rotherham and whose first job was in Morrisons, told Melissa Kite of the Spectator that despite the fact that her party is in government, she is unhappy with the current state of politics :

“My biggest concern is that we are ending up with a country where you have not one ladder to climb up but people are on different ladders. You might start at the bottom of a short ladder that will only get you so high.”

Greening’s comments come after the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, chaired by former Labour minister Alan Milburn, released damning findings last week. The study included research into the the social background of those “running Britain” and found that elitism was such a part of British society “that it could be called ‘social engineering'”.

Although all of the mainstream political parties have their cross to bear in this respect, the Conservatives – as Greening’s comments indicate – are the worst offenders. For example, 54% of the Conservatives went to private school, compared with 7% of the population and 60% of Cameron’s cabinet are Oxbridge educated. Not exactly what you’d call representative politics…