Say what you will about Gordon Brown — and plenty have over the last 24 hours — but there is one achievement even his harshest detractors can not critique: he broke the Oxford mould among modern Prime Ministers.
Since the Second World War, Oxford University has produced the majority of Prime Ministers, outstripping the rest of the country’s institutions and even their arch rivals Cambridge. Aside from those who didn’t go to university (John Major, Jim Callaghan and Winston Churchill), Brown has so far been the only non-Oxford PM since 1945 — instead he went to Edinburgh:
[datawrapper chart=”http://static.spectator.co.uk/CSz9t/index.html”]
Despite Oxford’s long history of churning out Prime Ministers, it was not always so slanted in favour of one institution. Out of the 55 British Prime Ministers, Cambridge produced more PMs in the past but only a handful went to other institutions:
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in