Political Dynasties

POGS, how do you know what was in the mind of the person who wrote the OP?
Tony Benn hasn't narrowed the pool. His family includes people from quite a few nationalities, so that actually widens the pool if any of his grandchildren want to be politicians. They certainly weren't marrying people from a narrow circle of friends.

POGS I assume by "one party" making accusations of nepotism, class, educational privilege, being millionaires, posh, etc., you mean the Labour Party makes those accusations - particularly as you give only the names of Labour offspring as examples, thus implying that the Labour Party is hypocritical.

As GrannyTwices list shows, political families are not just confined to the Labour Party. In my opinion, the main reason this issue has been raised is to detract from growing criticism (even from within its own ranks) that the Conservative Party is jam-packed full of old Etonions.

No it wouldn't. I do not have opinions any more.

Durhamjen

I don't think there has been anything other than pointing out nepotism is used by all parties. If you are referring to the OP the names mentioned were not used by the poster to be partisan but to ask the question of 'narrowing the pool'.

It would be interesting to know your opinion of the question being asked.

Not forgetting all the cousins. I wonder if that's something that should be declared. Like Hunt being Bottomley's cousin, and in the constituency next to her.

Well yes and there are the husband & wife teams too.... but does it matter? It's the voters who vote them in.

I think you need to look up a few Tory MPs to even this up. You should see Cameron's lineage, through his mother's side.
Boris Johnson's dad was a Tory MEP.
Even Robert Peel's dad was a Tory Lord.

Many adult children follow in their parents' footsteps - doctors, dentists, teachers or carry on in the family business.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. You could argue that it's narrowing the pool of experience, or you could argue that they are already aware of the pitfalls of that particular occupation and are going into it with their eyes wide open, and having benefitted from their parent's experience.
Whether they are any good at it depends upon their own intelligence, hard work and integrity, and in the case of politicians, even if the voters still vote for the party they have always voted for, climbing up the greasy pole of preferment will depend on their own ability, or possibly their sycophancy skills

I don't have a particular problem with it, as long as they are candidates that will work hard for their constituents.

It will not matter one jot though, if, as is probably going to be the case, the constituents would vote for the proverbial monkey wearing a rosette of the colour you are brain washed in to voting for.

Let's face it, all parties are happy to use nepotism.

What I do find annoying is partisan politics where one party accuses the other of nepotism, class and educational privilege, being millionaires and posh etc. and stupidly opens themselves up to be, quite rightly, called hypocrites. They make themselves look stupid and the ease with which it is carried out is often quite shameful.

I do as a matter of fact think the voter might just struggle with being so blatantly used if they have never seen hide nor hair of them in action and all they have to go on is the reputation of the parent. Blair, Straw, Kinnock and Prescott, they certainly are names to have made a lasting impression aren't they.

How come they got missed off the list?

Pitt the Younger?

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_families_in_the_United_Kingdom

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_families_in_the_United_Kingdom
Shame Lynn Truss didn't read this first! There have been political dynasties for centuries - it's not new at all . I'm not saying that its an issue or not just that Truss was making a cheap and ill-informed political point that will come back to bite her