Opportunity has stopped knocking: who will be its new champion?

Here’s a conundrum as we leave the Blair years behind us. Never has so much faith been placed in the idea of a society open to social mobility; never have so many politicians’ speeches been delivered in praise of a more classless society and the need to promote ability, regardless of background. Yet their rhetoric isn’t matched by the facts. Britain is becoming far less socially mobile. On the present indicators, we can only argue about whether it has stalled or is going backwards. What no one can convincingly argue is that it is going forwards. One of the oft-cited pieces of evidence is that of a celebrated study of children born in 1958 and children born in 1970. Those born in 1970 are more likely to have ended up poor themselves than the children born in 1958. There is no sign that the trend has changed.

So one of the vital tests of who is fit to govern Britain should be which party has the better ideas for improving the ability of bright children, regardless of background, to achieve their true potential. In the mid-1990s the Major government confidently boasted that Britain was the place of ‘opportunity for all!’ and the (then) backbencher David Willetts could assert ‘a picture of extraordinary social fluidity’ as a hallmark of Britain. As the product of a comprehensive and Oxford, I was inclined to believe that too. Now Mr Willetts and others bemoan the backward slide of social mobility. Even Blairites who have sought to promote this cause admit there is still ‘much to do’ — as they now say of things that haven’t been done.

Not all the blame can be placed at Blair’s door. Social mobility in Britain was probably overstated in the 1990s, so the problems lurk deeper and need renewed vigour and vision to solve them.