My post triggered a bit of a rant in the office, and after Becky did some digging we found the following:
According to Wikipedia:
“[George] Osborne’s wealth is estimated at £4.3m”.
He also sends his children to private school.
I heard on the news the other day that David and Samantha Cameron have a combined wealth of £30million – Wikipedia backs this up and also says:
“Cameron is a direct descendant of King William IV”
and as for his wife: ” Samantha Gwendoline Sheffield, the daughter of Sir Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, 8th Baronet and Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones (now the Viscountess Astor)”
Bloody hell!
Do you remember when the “up and coming” Tories did a photoshoot in Tatler, wearing clothes worth more than most people’s monthly wage packet?
I don’t want to enter into a class war – no one can help where they’re born or what they’re born into, and life is what you make it. What pisses me off though is that people like Cameron and Osborne pretend to understand, when they don’t, and they pretend they’re normal, when they’re not. The Tory party, even today with their shiny new image, still looks like an old boy’s club. For Eton-educated wealthy folk, going into politics is pretty much a natural progression. Does that make them qualified to run the county? Maybe. Does that make me like them?
No.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Here Here !
In todays borrowing society any wealth can make you feel rich. £30m on the other hand puts you in another league and probably seperates your views from the wants of Joe public.
Arthur C Clarke wrote something along the lines that: The only thing that should preclude anyone from entering politics is a desire to enter politics.
There’s not much between any of them. For example, Nick Clegg – the current ‘every-man’ – has an interesting background according to Wikipedia…
father, Nicholas Clegg CBE, is chairman of United Trust Bank,[1] and is a trustee of The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation,[2] where Ken Clarke was an advisor.
…paternal grandmother, Kira von Engelhardt, was a Russian Baroness
…educated at the private Caldicott School at Farnham Royal in South Buckinghamshire, and later at the private Westminster School in London
Arthur C Clarke was probably right.
Looks like I can’t vote for anyone
Here’s some anecdotal evidence: When I was 17 I interviewed at Oxford for Politics, Philosophy and Economics. The College put me up…pretty much in a castle…for free for 3 days. Dinner every night was 3 courses on silver service.
I hung out with my fellow interviewees for those three days. Out of everyone interviewing for that course, I was the only one doing A-Levels, all the others were doing the International Baccalaureate. I was also one of two students not at private school. One Russian I befriended told me his school fee – it was more than my dad’s salary.
Needless to say, unprepared me didn’t get onto the course, but the people that did are probably our future politicians!
How did you miss Osborne’s and Cameron’s horns? What a cheek they have being rich and wanting to put something back into society… take them out back, put them up against a wall and shoot them… no scratch that, that’s too good for ‘em… hang ‘em instead
I’d rather judge them on their ability to sort out the situation we’re in, economically. Regardless of political opinion, I can’t see how anyone would in good conscience vote for the same party that has landed us in this mess.
The government needs to change for anything noticeable to happen.
I’m largely voting for Conservative as I want to see a positive change in my life and I am hoping *some how* this may lead to one. I’m also influenced by the fact my dad has always told me why Conservatives are better suited to my interests, I’m guessing many other people are also influenced by the parents’ opinions and their backgrounds…
I wouldn’t not vote for someone based on how much money they have or their background though, I think that for someone to be a good leader they need to be in the position where they themselves do not need to worry about their own welfare, only then can they truly help other people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKFTtYx2OHc&feature=player_embedded
Just found out that although King William IV is his great great great great great grand father, he actually improved the poor law, made restrictions on child labour, abolished slavery and improved the British Electoral system.
So maybe being rich isn’t such a curse after all…