HOW does Britain get a child from Chaddesden into Parliament?
The first step is by moving away from two-party politics.
Seven per cent of Britain's pupils attend independent schools, yet the percentage of MPs from independent schools is 33% – the disparity is wrong. Add grammar school educated MPs (25%) to this and the combined total of MPs from outside comprehensive education is close to 60% – the disparity then becomes shocking.
This pattern continues across the whole sphere of influence within Britain, from the judiciary through the armed forces, Whitehall, TV and media. And it hasn't changed much over the past 15 years.
A child from Chaddesden should have an equal opportunity to get ahead but clearly doesn't. This matters because there is a disconnect between the people who run the country and the rest of us. There becomes an elite "group think" of people whose lives are disconnected.
This elitism narrows further in other ways. Geographically, for example, 45% of cabinet members and 43% of shadow cabinet members attended schools in London or the South East.
Around half the people running our country were not comprehensively educated and went to school in or near London – and they most probably studied PPE (politics, philosophy and economics) at Oxbridge. It is fair to say their "real life" is not our "real lives".
You'd think that a child from Chaddesden when grown up could join a political party, work hard and get selected for a seat. But mainstream politics is somewhat weighted and dynastic. Boris Johnson doesn't have to contend an unsafe seat in the Midlands to get back into Parliament. Labour, too, has its "Red Princes" being given safe seats – the next generation of Kinnocks and Straws are lining up in the wings of the political stage.
If a child from Chaddesden wants to represent their country in Parliament after growing up and having worked a few years in Rolls-Royce or Toyota they have the unfair forces of elitism and nepotism pitched against them. It is clear that two-party politics remains unrepresentative of the nation as a whole.
There are other obstacles, to be sure, but breaking the two-party hold is primary to creating a fairer Britain and getting a child from Chaddesden into Parliament.
John Charlesworth
UK Independence Party
Parliamentary Candidate
Derby North
