Are YOU part of the New Liberal Elite? Are YOU attempting to undermine British Values? Are YOU in league with the dark forces of Wokeness? There is a good chance that you are, at least according to Professor Matthew Goodwin in his latest best selling book (who most certainly is NOT part of this New Elite as he repeatedly assures us in his frequent media appearances).
Goodwin has taken a break from publishing misleading polls in order to flog his new book about how there is a cabal of people who constitute a New Elite who pretty much control everything. The characteristics of a person who belongs to this New Elite includes having gone to a good university, having a job in academia, politics, the civil service, or the media, living in a big city, and holding liberal values. It’s actually a pretty vague and nebulous list and I’m confident that most of you tick at least some of these boxes. Goodwin ticks most of them himself given that he’s an academic, an author of a best selling book, and is constantly writing opinion pieces and appearing on the TV and the radio.
However, as I discussed above, Goodwin wants to make it clear that he is not part of this New Elite despite ticking most of the boxes. Neither are members of the actual government. It would seem that the thing which makes you part of the New Elite is that you disagree with Professor Matthew Goodwin.
I won’t say too much more about his argument. I haven’t read his book as I’m reluctant to line his pockets further so it would be very poor form to comment further. There are lots of people who have criticised his book and the underlying argument and he decided to make a list of some of them. Goodwin points out that all his critics went to Oxbridge with the exception of one who went to the LSE (Jim Hacker would be so proud) and asking if he’d touched a nerve. Now, I’m not convinced that saying ‘All my critics went to three of the world’s best universities’ is the most effective strategy, at least for an academic. It does, however, reveal something about his views on Oxbridge and is one shared by many other conservatives.
I made a slightly tongue-in-cheek tweet about Goodwin focussing on the fact that some of his critics went to Oxbridge. Goodwin was quick to jump on this and used it as an example of the New Elite in action. Interestingly, he was joined by an actual Peer of the realm and also a King’s Counsel in suggesting that I made my remark because I myself am part of this New Elite. While I would struggle to class myself as working class these days, this really is laughable given that I grew up in a single parent household on a council estate, claimed free school meals, and my mum was a cleaner (although I prefer the way Chris Snowdon described me).
Anyway, back to the Oxbridge issue. I do think that the UK (and England in particular) is perhaps a bit too obsessed with Oxbridge (and Goodwin is clearly no exception), we are often far too quick to malign them and our other elite universities. Now, there are lots of really clever people who didn’t go to our ‘elite’ universities or any university at all. For example, my parents left school at 15 and 16 and my mum is very smart (although she doesn’t think so) and my dad is a member of Mensa. There are also some not so bright people at Oxbridge. What is more, the country might be in better shape if politics wasn’t dominated by PPE graduates.
However, concerns in the media about the country being run by people who went to elite universities always seems a bit odd. If you end up in A&E, I imagine most people wouldn’t raise objections about being treated by someone who got their medical degree from Oxford. Similarly, if you find yourself facing life in prison I’m sure you wouldn’t ask for a barrister who went anywhere other than Cambridge. Likewise, I’ve never heard anyone demand to be let off a plane because there was a chance that the engineer might have got her degree from Imperial. As such, it makes very little sense that people have a different attitude when it comes to actually running the country.
The country’s elite universities are unfairly maligned and this is something you don’t often see in other countries. I’ve written about this before, but it’s time that we started to really show some pride when it comes to the country’s best universities. It’s curious that those who are often the most disparaging of Oxbridge are those who are keen to promote British exceptionalism and often accuse others of talking the country down. The UK’s elite universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, and the LSE are a great British export which attract the best minds from around the world and produce groundbreaking research.
I’ll probably write something more in depth about social mobility and our elite universities do need to do a better job at attracting bright working class people to join them. However, progress is being made and being an Oxbridge graduate is no longer a sign that you went to public school.
We should all value Oxbridge and our other elite universities much more highly. This should be particularly the case for those who claim to be patriots such as Professor Matthew Goodwin.