Beware the ultimate career politicians’ degree

12 April 2012

Forget Eton and the Bullingdon Club. A better route to power, it seems, is to study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford.

Our Prime Minister, his Foreign Secretary, four of their colleagues in the Cabinet and another two of the MPs who attend its meetings are all products of the PPE degree.

It is not just a Lib-Con coalition affliction. Whether it is a Miliband or Mr Balls that Cameron ends up shouting at over the dispatch box each week, his opponent will have attended the same lectures as him.

That our leaders are educated in three of the major disciplines essential for government may sound sensible, particularly given the state of the economy and the dearth of ethics in politics made apparent by the recent expenses scandal.

But Oxford churning out its own governing class smacks slightly of Plato's rule by the educated "elite", PPE becoming almost a finishing school for the politically-minded.

The dominance of one degree must surely cause "group think". This uniformity of understanding was one of the problems blamed for the banking crisis. That many of our leaders and lawmakers are schooled in the same way of thinking and have such similar educational experiences is just as potentially harmful as it was in the City.

An Oxford politics don tells me that most of his colleagues are "soggy liberals". These intellectuals, locked away in their mildewed colleges and surrounded by fusty books, may sound like a benign influence, then. But inevitably, a certain mindset can creep in to those who are taught by them.

Take Vernon Bogdanor, the don from Brasenose College dusted off recently for election night who says David Cameron was one of his "ablest" students. Bogdanor's tentacles of influence spread far further than just the PM, though. I should know. As a PPE-ist (class of 2005), I attended his lectures. I bet many of the current crop of MPs will have done so too.

The politics don points out that tutors have become much more specialised in recent years, however. This means that the old type of tutor, who would take students for a range of subjects and perhaps alter their opinions, is now a dying breed. So their influence over British politics should soon go into decline.

But there is another concern: PPE is the ultimate career politicians' degree. I chose it because I was too much of an academic commitment-phobe to sign up to a single subject for three years. A few of my contemporaries had quite different motivations, though. They came to the dreaming spires not to put the world to rights, but as a first step in their somewhat scary plan to rule it.

Small wonder that PPE-ists were over-represented in every society or committee of note at the university. Well, except the sports teams.

At 18, the most ambitious already had five-year plans for their careers. A few were also lacking in thought for others, as though ambition had throttled their ability for empathy. I can only hope that none of those who are actually in government now were of this ilk.

In a memory made bleary by Freshers' Week excesses, I vaguely recall a lecturer declaring PPE the "degree of prime ministers". A course alone doesn't make you fit to govern, though. Not even one with three impressive-sounding subjects in its title.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT