Last week I was in Lock’s, the old hat-maker’s in St James’s. I was there with
an old rock star. Old in rock years. Middle-aged in human years. He was
having a bespoke cloth cap made: a proper Jarrow march cap.
On the other side of the shop there was a man being fitted with a bowler. He
looked a prat. He was Spanish. He looked at himself in the mirror with an
assumed English gent’s patrician haughtiness donated to him solely by the
cloth on his head.
Then who should walk in but Norman St John Stevas, which was a surprise
because I thought the great genuflecting courtier of heredity had kicked the
monogrammed bucket years ago. Apparently he’d come in to have the sweatband
of his American cowboy fedora thing changed.
And it struck me that the time when men wore their class on their heads had
long gone. Here was a multi-millionaire looking like a DH Lawrence
character, a foreigner imitating one of Macmillan’s civil servants and the
hand-kissing lord dressed up like an extra from Brokeback Mountain.
Class has raised its ugly head again, though. The top hats of class war were
being superimposed on the Conservative candidate at Crewe and Nantwich and
were also in evidence in the London mayoral campaign. Toffistry has been put
back into the bleak, snobbish heart of British politics, and it’s been put
back by those who will be the most damaged by it - and have the most to
lose.
Of all the changes in British life in the past generation, the slow-fading of
the class system is the most dramatic, the most encouraging and rewarding.
It was smothered by the demise of the old industrial, rust-and-dust
communities, the shrinking unions, the natural withering and profligacy of
the hereditary aristocracy and the rise of a meritocratic and well-educated
middle class.
Most of all, however, it went because we all decided, collectively, that it
was time for it to go. Tom Paine said that the best things about politics,
societies decided for themselves. The old class system didn’t fit with the
lives we wanted for ourselves and for our children. We didn’t want to be
pigeonholed by what our fathers did or by the hat we wore.
The rise in immigration only highlighted what an embarrassing, parochial
pastime class had become, like morris dancing. It survived in a sort of arch
aspic in films and on television - as a shorthand for character - and in the
columns of some papers.
However, that famous Frost Report comedy turn in which John Cleese and Ronnies
Barker and Corbett are upper, middle and lower class - Cleese: “I look down
on him because I am upper class.” Barker: “I look up to him because he is
upper class, but I look down on him because he is lower class.” Corbett: “I
know my place” - would be inexplicable to the viewers of The Mighty Boosh.
And even at the time, in 1966, it was funny principally because it mocked
what was already ridiculous.
The rude reinvention of class by the Labour party is cynical and indefensible.
If you and I were to sit down for lunch and consume a bottle of claret or a
couple of pints and start an argument about class, we’d soon be bogged down
in the orthodoxy of definitions: how many lords could dance on the head of a
pin? How do we define class now? Is it what you do; is it what your parents
did; is it income; is it where your house is? Is it that it’s your house?
Perhaps it’s what you sound like: as the Irishman George Bernard Shaw had it,
an Englishman has only to open his mouth to make another Englishman despise
him. It’s instructive and amusing to listen to early broadcasts by the
Queen, with her accent of absurdly cut glass, full of ripe plums, like a
young Celia Johnson. And then listen to her last speech at the opening of
parliament: the voice, if not her hats, has glissandoed down the social
scale. Her grandsons speak in modified army estuary, the flattened-out
lingua franca of the young. It may dismay grammarians and drama teachers,
but it does mean that they’re being judged by what they say and not how they
say it.
Class in politics is by its very nature divisive; and we really don’t need any
more manufactured division. The people who relish it, who welcome its
reemergence, are the ones who miss the stasis and waste of trench politics.
It’s not so much about exposing Tories for what they’ve always been as about
dragging the left back to what it always was: a fondly imagined embattled,
hobnailed past of martyrs and coughed-up blood.
However, these very same people who happily accuse their opponents of being
“toffs” are also the ones who are scrupulous about political correctness and
the nomenclature of race, creed, colour and disability.
The prejudice of ascribing character and ability to class is so obvious it
barely needs arguing; yet even Polly Toynbee in The Guardian will
effortlessly refer to “toffs” as if her own privileged background and
education had been whitewashed. She would never dream, though, of referring
to didicoys or Paddies or yids.
To discard anything an Old Etonian has to say or may wish to do because of
where he went to school is politically cretinous – and anyway, are we
talking about Old Etonians such as Jonathon Porritt, George Orwell and Hugh
Laurie? The same goes for Oxbridge. The electorate is being asked to
discount educated candidates because they’re educated.
The most depressing element of this is not its intellectual paucity, its
social divisiveness or its thuggish prejudice; it’s a fact that the people
it will harm the most are the people least able to defend themselves. The
people Labour was entrusted to protect.
The socialist movement grew out of Chartism, nonconformist religion and the
unions. Not to enshrine the class system, but to tear it down; and over the
course of 100 years it and other people and factors did just that. We don’t
live in a wholly meritocratic society but it is a lot better than it was,
isn’t it? By common and universal consent we’ve agreed that it probably is.
Wishing for class war again is like wishing for outside privvies, black lung,
bread and dripping and hopelessness. The arguments and assumptions of class
obscure all the real issues and problems. They chain politics to fixed
positions.
The unfairness in society has nothing to do with class, but everything to do
with access, resources and understanding. The Labour party isn’t what it was
in 1946; nor are the Tories; nor are the rest of us. The idea that in a
democracy you cast your vote dependent on the accident of your birth is
abhorrent.
I interviewed Tony Benn when he retired from the Commons; we drank tea. I
pointed out that the class system he’d spent his life fighting against no
longer existed. He chuckled and said that, on the contrary, lots and lots of
people who never knew it before were finding that they were working class.
“Many bankers and captains of industry only realise they’re working class when
they get fired. If you work for someone else, you’re a worker. If you can be
sacked by a boss or a board or the shareholders, you’re working class.”
Well, doesn’t that sort of include everyone? I mean, even the Queen’s employed
by us. He puffed on his pipe and beamed, and you could hear Keir Hardie, the
Labour party’s founder, chuckling.
"An Englishman has only to open his mouth to make another Englishman despise him". (George Bernard Shaw)
Never heard that one before. But it's so true. Utterly fabulous.
You don't believe me ? Take a look at some of the posts on here.
RJA, Nottingham, UK.
After witnessing the crude and sickeningly blatant prejudice and bigotry of the labour campaign in Crewe and Nantwich, I believe that labour shall be judged by their own standards regarding prejudice and that voting labour should be defined as a hate-crime comparable to race hate.
Ken Hall, Barrow in Furness, UK
Class is intrinsic to British society.. as is maintaining limits on class mobility... No amount of whitewashing and wishful thinking can ever make this reality go away. Britain is after all still a monarchy with a thriving aristocracy.. whereby birth alone by default assures quality and wealth.
Haseeb, London, UK
Class war is created by envy. Meritocracy always rules since it is determined by being rich and powerful. The new merit-ocracy of IT millionaires and footballers have the means to get class but the poor can't afford it. Impoverished heirs of aristo families may effect it temporarily but not for long
john bentley, Loule, Portugal
Class has not gone away, it merely manifests in different ways these days.
Ken Hall, Barrow in Furness, UK
In response to Mary from Kingston
The class system is mutating and thriving even while social mobility is improved by success. Is a millionaire plumbing contractor or footballer seen in the same frame as a mediocre GP or Headmaster? The badges and demarcation lines have changed - not the concept.
Esther, London,
Is the class war over? I think we should have a parallel debate on a forum over at this newspaper's sister publication "The Sun" and compare resonses. Might be very illuminating.
Shirley, London,
It's dismaying that so many people can read and still miss the point. Gill is talking about the end of a "class" inflicted on you at birth, not the "class" you inflict on yourself. The latter exists everywhere, and probably always will. The former now exists only as an excuse for failure.
jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA
A food critic on a natonal newspaper, a rock star, a lord of the realm and a spanish millionaire businessman - in a hat shop in St. James. Yes, a true microcoms of British society.
Shirley, London,
The class system that people claim exists is more to do with the expectations our kids are given. The educated and hard-working tend to instill that attitude in their kids; the benefits-based families do the same for theirs. This creates a semblance of class in the real social division that results.
Steve, Altrincham,
Class is not dead - only someone who mixes only with his or her own class could possibly think so. It's not about what head gear you wear, but what opportunities you can envisage for yourself or your children or whether you regard reading a book as a leisure activity.
Pauline, Kingston upon Thames,
Doesn't the fact that, after making money, a family of modest origin can be regarded as upper-class show that the old notion of class based on birth old is truly dead? It's not 'class' but success we are talking about.
Mary , London,
See earlier post: "How many ex-public school boys are there in the Shadow Cabinet?
daleaway, Wellington, "
How infantile! The biggest mess of a generation has just been caused by a lazy trouble making ex-Public schoolboy and his shoulder chipped henchman, what a pair!
Danny, Manchester, manchester,
The class system isn't dead - it has just changed it's headgear. Now instead of bowlers vs cloth caps you cycling helmets vs baseball caps and hair extensions vs expensive highlights
Esther, London,
Class differences still exist- go look at the comments about the 'schools lottery' and see the amount of referals to 'sink schools on sink estates'.
That suggests to me a class division based on wealth and residence!
AK, Pig Hill,
Grow up. Democracy has failed. Meritocracies are valuable only where heritability (biology) is recognized. The 19th century poor formed unions only when betrayed by their their protectors, the landed gentry, who threw in their lot with the factory system. As to foreign critics, they hate us anyway.
Edward, Lincoln, England
Sean MacDhai got it right.
Britain has been held back by its preposterous class system while other more genuinely class-free societies have progressed into the modern world.
How many ex-public school boys are there in the Shadow Cabinet?
daleaway, Wellington,
Economic inequality has grown over the last 30 years : a cognitive elite has simply replaced the old social order (see 'The Bell Curve'): since intelligence, like many other human characteristics, is hereditary, this social division will be perpetuated in an increasingly knowledge based world.
James Scott, Bristol, UK
Oh please, don't act so surprised by Labour's tactics, hypocritical though they are. Class has been coming back into British society in a big way over the past decade as the wealth gap widens.
This is probably Labour's biggest failing.
Owen, London, UK
The anti foxhunting tribe within the Labour party have always been obsessed by class analysis. They've never moved on.
John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England
not a particularly ascerbic article AA ......more of an apology of an article isn't it ..
rwn, muston,
I am saddened by the unintelligence of many of the comments in response to this fine article.
In general, differences in standards of living are not the result of a class system but the result of uninformed family culture. We should encourage people to improve themselves rather than to hate.
Marek, London,
A definition used in psychology to determine whether someone is middle or lower class is as follows:
Picture a mother with her child misbehaving on a bus. A lower class mother will typically shout at the child, while a middle class one will hiss, "be quiet, you're embarrassing me and yourself!
Oliver, London,
The problem is that while we have such a divisive education system - the rich can pay to turn out 'commentators' like AA Gill - there will always be a class sytem running through British life. The rich can choose, the poor can't. It disadvantages the poor while rendering the rich naive & ignorant.
Beth, London,
I tried to enter the Where Was I competition today and told that I was too late as the closing date WAS May 28th!
Michael Higgins, Loughton, England
i tried to enter your where am I competition but was told it is closed
Christine Liston, Northaw, England
Stick to writing about food.
Carol, London, UK
There is a class system, its alive and well and rarely makes news, its been here for hundreds of years, and will remain part of out "culture" for a long time.
The point is it shouldnt be a party political issue. Vote for who you think you want to run the country, regardless of their class.
Rebecca Tito, Northamptonshire, UK
Hi,
Politics a form of Prostitution has many sides. Left right or middle. Where the wind bowls.
Regards Dr. Terence Hale
Terence Hale, zandvoort, Holland
What utter tripe.
Where does this idea that Morris-Dancing have ANYTHING AT ALL to do with "class" come from?
Come to that what is embarrasing about it?
Do you realise how fit dancers have to be, of either sex (No, Jennifer, the Morris is NOT a male-only activity).
G. Tingey, London, England
Well, we still have two group of people: the crass 'yoof' and their beer-guzzling, ignorant, celebrity-obsessed ilk, and the educated professional set. They might as well be from different planets. Call it what you like, but the distinction is real and blindingly obvious.
Paulo, London,
re: Sunday Magazine:"Wren's Nest"...Kitchener lies at the bottom of the sea off the Orkneys.... his body was never found.
Raymond Dolan, Bundoran,Co.Donegal., Ireland
Class has always existed ever since one tribe conquered another in the historical period. It is a reflection on warrior descent or superior genetics. I have found the lower class are inferior due to their nature. This doesn't stop gene recombination or the fallen rising up from that lower class.
keith bennet, liverpool, uk
how quickly we've forgotten the sutton report which confirmed that social mobility in the uk is no better now than it was in the 50s. and that the brightest working class kids fall behind their dimmer but richer peers at age 5. inconvenient stats for a media justifying its obsession with the rich.
Juliana Farha, London, England
G. Orwell exposed the hellishness for a miner's family of living on bread-and-dripping and sweet tea at the equivalent of GBP 7K p.a. It's only the nostalgics in the NUT who want to drag us back to that. It's they and their ilk who personify Labour's betrayal of those they should be protecting.
JF, Canterbury, UK
Only those with no class invoke it as an argument.
David Williams, Eastnor, England
Crude politicians want division and power. Without it they would have no reason to exist. Time for the individual to realise that none of these warped people can ever have power without his/her consent.
Chris, London,
I'm not sure that Old Etonians have ever suffered the sort of prejudice directed towards ethnic minorities...eh, Gill. Just because class might be difficult to define doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And, since when has 'class war' been an aim of the Labour Party?
jim, Hull, UK
The recent denials by middle-class social commentators that class is still an issue in modern British society is motivated by a desire to deny that socio-economic factors during childhood play a part in personal success and failure.
This allows them to evaluate their own successes guilt-free.
Sean MacDhai, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
I know of a pub just down the road from me in the middle of a council estate. Just walk in there and shout " we are all middle class now". How they will laugh.
Stan, Middlesex, UK
Mr Smith from Glasgow, you may well be right. It is a long time since I worked in Glasgow.
The point is, I think,. it is not the Tory "toffs" who are responsible for the spiritual vaccum among your pupils (present and former). It is, said to say, more likely to be their own kind.
Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK
"Class".What an undefining word that is, It conjours up visions of the well heeled and well educated vs the working class rough and ready dumbo. The in between?. From the thick to the highly developed. I've known very ugly people who were wealthy, workers who would open their doors and hearts .
John P, Westcliff on sea, United Kingdom
Modern England has room for both 'napkin' and 'serviette'.
no room for those bothered by the difference.
pat hodgson , coventry, uk.
There is not, and never has been, a class "system". Class distinctions, for that is what A A Gill is talking about, arise quite naturally from differing aspirations, luck, talent and energy - or the lack of any one or all of them. Nobody has laid down ground rules that must be strictly observed.
IAN GIRVAN, DUNKERTON, BATH, ENGLAND
Class is no more than shorthand for groups of people sorted according to wealth, accent, jobs, etc. Class cannot explain anything. The prevalence of class in our political discourse is due to socialism for without it socialism, in all its many forms would collapse.
R Mason, London, UK
We all decided it was time for class to go ??? Try whispering that in Blackheath se3 as you queue up in the little boulangerie to show how well you can pronounce pain au raisin . Then jump on a bus to Deptford and ask for one in Gregg's .....
alex cordwell, London ,
Labour always were the real "nasty" party.
I'm from a working class backgroud but benefited from Gammar school education and the knowledge, aspirations and confidence they instilled in me.
I remember in my early working life the vile bullying that working people suffered at the hands of unions
Geoff M, Bromsgrove, England
Sorry! , for the first time I have to diagree, you know nothing about class and the struggles that it brings ,read India Knight, The poor end of the working class ( the spititually impoverished) still exists! I know I have to teach them.
john smith, Glasgow, Scotland
Class is still here with a vengeance. The new upper class - like the old aristocrats - have their hands on the levers of state power. But its not land that defines it - its public sector jobs, and the preposterous pensions, expenses, bonuses, and security that go with them - paid by the new poor.
Peter Holttum, Ferndown, Dorset
Better maybe, but still there. Modern 'class' (i.e. exercise of privilege) is still about the defence of existing privilege through political and financial clout.
In cynically eschewing socialism to appear neo-Thatcherite as 'New Labour', Labour went AWOL from class war solely to gain electability.
L. Long, Great Yarmouth, UK
well its kind of ironic as new labour seems to be a distinctly middle class invention.Tony blair would be more comfortable wearing a top hat than a cloth cap, given his privileged background.
They could never claim to be a party of the people , more a party trying to control the people.
mike, holloway, ik