I thought the Labour party was meant to be the political party for and of the 'woking class'

Looking at the statistics Parliament as a whole has fallen into the hands of London based lawyers and professional political workers, whose contact or knowledge of life outside the bubble is minimal

Isn't that what made Angela Rayner so remarkable in this day and age?

Anniebach

Angela Rayner, Alan Johnson, Nye Bevan were supported by
Unions as were other Labour MP’s.

Angela Rayner is female yes ? heaven knows how many MP’s had sex in early teens, Angela was pregnant! ! ! it happens to girls , Angela has been judged much harsher than any male MP

Alan Johnson, his parents died he then lived with his sister, Angela was a carer for her mother,

AJ’s father walked away from the family when Alan was very young. His Mum had to bring up him and his sister alone in slum housing with no support from the father. She became very ill and eventually died when Alan was about 12. His sister brought him up even though she was still a child herself but she did not want him to go into care. A social worker eventually found them better accommodation and their lives improved a bit. He credits his sister in all his memoirs with bringing him up and making him the man he became.

I've never had a dinner party or been to one in my life. I actually couldn't think of anything worse

I don't even have any best china or silver ware.

Oreo

Are you on the wrong thread Crossstitchfan ?😁

Probably! My addled brain does go on strike sometimes! Now all I need to know is how to transfer my complimentary comment onto the proper thread without having to write it all out again!
Sorry, and thanks for letting me know.

I don't even have a table

Galaxy —— LUXURY. 🍴🍽️🤣

AJ’s father walked away from the family when Alan was very young. His Mum had to bring up him and his sister alone in

Quote Primrose53 Sun 07-Sept-25 13:11:55

slum housing with no support from the father. She became very ill and eventually died when Alan was about 12. His sister brought him up even though she was still a child herself but she did not want him to go into care. A social worker eventually found them better accommodation and their lives improved a bit. He credits his sister in all his memoirs with bringing him up and making him the man he became.

Yes, Angela Rayner didn’t have an older sibling, it all fell on her

And Alan Johnson’s life before his mother died was more stable than was Angela Rayner’s. I’m a big admirer of Johnson and his sister as well as the social worker who bent rules to keep them together

I think Andrew Rawnsley in today's Observer is accurate in his assertion that her departure has threatened to bring Labour's anxieties to the boil.

In this article he quotes Sir Laurie Magnus's (The PM's Independent Advisor on Ministers' Interests) in praise for Ms Rayner but nevertheless pointed out "she should have taken more care to be sure that she paid the correct amount of stamp duty on her flat purchase and her failure to do so was unequivocally a breach of the ministerial code.

"I have huge sympathy for Angela but she had to go" says one cabinet member close to the PM. Sir Keir had pledged a tougher standards regime and to be merciless in the removal of ministers, however mighty or popular, who transgressed. He could either stick to that pledge or start becoming a version of Boris Johnson with a neater haircut. He chose to be "Mr Rules"

So that says it all really, it's not about the baby at 16, the green trouser suit, vaping in an inflatable, a visible tattoo, or as one poster suggested, " the right wing objecting to the likes of her buying a second home" It's none of that as far as I'm concerned, I'm all for our politicians coming from working class backgrounds, who would and should have more resonance to a huge swathe of the electorate. Give me an Alan Johnson any day of the week over the smacked arse faced Eton/Oxbridge/Political Adviser ascending the conferred trajectory to the position of PM, because "I'm worth it and I was born to do it", attitudes typified by other demographics who we've had inflicted on us. It's about the fact that the people who we have been elected to preside over us whatever background they've emanated from, need to play by the rules, their own rules, otherwise how can they sit in judgement on the rest of us.

Absolutely correct TerriBull
I like the way AR changed her life, against the odds. It doesn’t mean I believe she should be let off the hook for not being thorough about tax and trusts

Yes this exactly and holding that view doesn't mean I am a misogynist or an elitist. I thought she was doing some good things in housing but I am relieved she resigned and it didn't drag on.

Same with me TerriBull,

Bibedybop I tend to think the ‘class’ issue relates more to how people live their lives rather than how much money they have. As a working class person myself I have never been invited to a dinner party, which imo is very much a middle class cultural thing.

I thought those of all classes had people round to dinner.

We have always had people round for dinner, and gone to friends for dinner.

Were they dinner parties ? Just food with friends, lots of wine, chat and laughter.

I think Emily Thornbury is attempting to make a comeback. Who could forget her comments on white van man not so long ago.

I thought working class meant those in manual labor.

Perhaps lack of education qualifications, job insecurity, lack of savings, economically precarious position -- would be part to a current definition.

woodenspoon

I think Emily Thornbury is attempting to make a comeback. Who could forget her comments on white van man not so long ago.

what did she say?

Angela Rayner had sooo much to say about colleagues who cheated, shouted it at the party conference and was in her element. Doesn’t matter to me which party she is in, what matters to me is you need to be squeaky clean yourself before takeing the moral high ground about others. People do it and it never ceases to amaze me how they blank out their own behaviour. She’s the latest in double standards. Nothing to do with working class, female, single mother etc. it’s to do with hypocrisy and she’s definitely due an award for that.

Anniebach

AJ’s father walked away from the family when Alan was very young. His Mum had to bring up him and his sister alone in

Quote Primrose53 Sun 07-Sept-25 13:11:55

slum housing with no support from the father. She became very ill and eventually died when Alan was about 12. His sister brought him up even though she was still a child herself but she did not want him to go into care. A social worker eventually found them better accommodation and their lives improved a bit. He credits his sister in all his memoirs with bringing him up and making him the man he became.

Yes, Angela Rayner didn’t have an older sibling, it all fell on her

She was on benefits though unlike AJ family. I believe his Mother worked 3 jobs to support them.

Norah

I thought working class meant those in manual labor.

Perhaps lack of education qualifications, job insecurity, lack of savings, economically precarious position -- would be part to a current definition.

1st paragraph . So did I.
But they earn more than many others now. In my opinion.

2nd paragraph - yes that might be better.

Anniebach

AJ’s father walked away from the family when Alan was very young. His Mum had to bring up him and his sister alone in

Quote Primrose53 Sun 07-Sept-25 13:11:55

slum housing with no support from the father. She became very ill and eventually died when Alan was about 12. His sister brought him up even though she was still a child herself but she did not want him to go into care. A social worker eventually found them better accommodation and their lives improved a bit. He credits his sister in all his memoirs with bringing him up and making him the man he became.

Yes, Angela Rayner didn’t have an older sibling, it all fell on her

AR had an older brother actually.

fancythat

I saw an advert for a deputy store manager for Aldi, £16.95 per hour.
Plumbers charge £40 per hour.

I never realised that being a deputy store manager at Aldi required the same level of training and experience as being a Plumber. As they say, every day's a school day on Gransnet.

The thread title made me laugh to think of Labour as the political party for and of the 'woking class.'

Seriously, £40 an hour for s plumber or other highly skilled trades people is, well, Luxury

Iam64

Seriously, £40 an hour for s plumber or other highly skilled trades people is, well, Luxury

If you can get a plumber £40 an hour, you are bloomin lucky!

I think it says a lot about attitude to class when people are horrified by the fact that plumbers earn decent money. I remember a conversation ages ago with a friend whose husband was a dentist in the days when there were plentiful NHS surgeries. She was appalled at what they'd paid to have the bathroom tiled, as apparently her husband couldn't earn that much in as short a time. I asked why she felt this was wrong, and she could only mutter something about scarcity and market forces.

Market forces and social changes mean that plumbers and other 'tradies' are now scarce, so can charge more for their services (and will have far more chance of surviving AI than lawyers or accountants, for instance). Why do many people not see this as a welcome change, or at least just as 'natural' as the fact that the same market forces used to mean they were paid less?

As regards politicians, I feel that all sections of society should be represented, and that older signifiers of 'class', such as accent and presentation should be consigned to history. Snide ways of spotting those 'not like us' only ever existed to squash social mobility, and the spite with which the erosion of blatant classism being acceptable has been met by those who have a vested interest in keeping it going.