Simon Tisdall is the author of a new book, The Oxocracy: How Tories took over the u.K. He talks to intelligence squared's Gabrielle Giffords about what made him write it. She says he was inspired by current politicians who are all oxford graduates. And that they have taken over and remade the country in their own image.
Across Britain, it’s no secret that the people who make up the country's elected government have gone through the same familiar educational pipeline. Eton, Oxford, Westminster. Born into families of privilege, it’s unsurprising that these men, and it is largely men, have risen to the top in a country obsessed with social class. But while it’s clear how they got there, we should ask how does this affect the way that they run the country today? To help answer these questions and understand the tiny world of the uber elite, Simon Kuper, FT columnist and author of Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK, joins us on the podcast. Our host for this episode is Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall Editor for The Sunday Times.
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