Tuesday, September 22, 2020

1955 Perspective on The New Political Class

 


Unlike the old Establishment, the Political Class depends directly or indirectly on the state for its special privileges, career structure and increasingly for its financial support. This visceral connection distinguishes it from all previous British governing elites, which were connected much more closely to civil society and were frequently hostile or indifferent to central government. Until recent times members of British ruling elites owed their status to the position they occupied outside Westminster. Today, in an important reversal, it is the position they occupy in Westminster that grants them their status in civil society.

- Henry Fairlie in The Spectator in 1955 on the change from the old British Establishment to the new Political Class

[Photo by Clever Visuals at Unsplash]

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