Chris Bryant’s call for more diversity in British culture, has hit a nerve with James Blunt.
After Bryant, the new shadow culture minister, remarked that ‘we can’t just have a culture dominated by Eddie Redmayne and James Blunt and their ilk,’ the You’re Beautiful singer has responded in an open letter.
Despite initially brushing off the comments on Twitter, Blunt writes that Bryant is a ‘classist gimp’.
Really? I thought we’d got rid of me years ago. RT @ianbirrell: James Blunt is ‘dominating’ UK culture, according to Labour arts spokesman
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) January 18, 2015
The musician, who is married to Lord Wellesley’s daughter Sofia, claims that his Harrow education did not help him launch his music career.
‘I happened to go to a boarding school. No one helped me at boarding school to get into the music business,’ he says. ‘I bought my first guitar with money I saved from holiday jobs (sandwich packing!).

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