A 2024 Labour Cabinet won’t be the most working class of all time
According to a piece by Chaminda Jaynetti in the Observer (30th June)an incoming Labour Cabinet on Friday 5th July could be the most working class of all time. This is not the first time this assertion has appeared and from memory its source is Morgan McSweeney.
It is however wrong. The article notes that of the current Shadow Cabinet only 7 out of 31 members attended fee paying schools. This is certainly different to the Cabinets of the last 14 years so it is reasonable to claim that a new Labour Cabinet will be the most working class of recent times.
The most working class Cabinet to date is that which took office in January 1924- the first ever Labour Government. Of course numbers had by this date gathered experience as MPs or union officials but probably only Sidney Webb qualified as someone who had been to a fee paying school (several in fact)
The PM Ramsay MacDonald was the illegitimate son of a farm labourer. Arthur Henderson had been an iron moulder, Jimmy Thomas a railwayman, Willie Adamson and John Wheatley were previously miners.
Most of these men (there was one woman Margaret Bondfeld) are not in the socialist hall of fame for the reason that while they had working class backgrounds, social being determines consciousness. The Chancellor Philip Snowden was possibly even keener on fiscal rules than Rachel Reeves although in his May 1924 Budget he did cut taxes on what was known as the free breakfast. That is he reduced tax on items that workers had for breakfast.
The 1924 Government only lasted nine months so it can be argued its unfair to judge its lack of achievement. However evidence suggests that the key achievement that was sought was simply to show the ruling class that Labour could be trusted to govern as a B Team.
Labour’s understanding of working class can be (sort of ) gleaned by Starmer’s comments about toolmakers but in fact an interview with the current Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Sunday Times (30th June) makes the matter clear. He refers several times to his ability to get out of Tottenham where he was born. He is referring to personal advancement. This is not an option available to most in Tottenham (myself included) even if we wanted to get out. Here collective not individual advance is needed.
Finally its likely that a Labour Cabinet will have the best ethnic and gender balance of any for a while. On beards I’m less sure.
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