George Osborne: Michael Gove's Eton remarks were about social mobility

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/16/george-osborne-michael-gove-old-etonians

Version 0 of 1.

Michael Gove's statement last week that there are a "ridiculous" number of old Etonians in Downing Street was a comment on social mobility in the UK, George Osborne said on Sunday.

The chancellor gave a partial defence of Gove, a close ally of his, explaining that the education secretary's comments in an interview in the Financial Times should be seen in the context of the point Gove was making about wanting to make state school education as good as private school education.

But, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Osborne sidestepped a question about whether he agreed with Gove that the number of Etonians in government was "ridiculous".

No 10 is highly sensitive to the charge that the prime minister, David Cameron, is overly reliant on Etonians because that claim reinforces the Labour charge that he is out of touch with ordinary people. Polling evidence indicates that this resonates with voters, which is why Gove's comments were a godsend for Labour.

When asked about the number of Etonians in Cameron's inner circle, Gove told the FT: "It doesn't make me feel personally uncomfortable because I like each of the individuals concerned, but it's ridiculous. I don't know where you can find some such similar situation in a developed economy."

Cameron himself went to Eton, and other Old Etonians in his inner circle include Oliver Letwin, the minister for government policy; Jo Johnson, the head of his policy unit; Ed Llewellyn, Cameron's chief of staff; and Rupert Harrison, George Osborne's chief economic adviser.

Asked if he agreed that the number of Etonians in government was ridiculous, Osborne, who was educated at St Paul's in London, another elite private school, said he had read the interview and that Gove was talking about wanting to enable people from state schools to compete with people from private schools.

"Michael, I think, has done an incredible job as education secretary," Osborne said. "If you read the interview, he's making the point that he wants the very best education in our country to be in our state schools. It's something we can be enormously proud of, his achievement in education."

Osborne also dismissed claims that he is engaged in a feud with Boris Johnson, the London mayor who is a major rival to Osborne in a future Conservative leadership contest.

"I have worked incredibly well with Boris Johnson for many years. I regularly speak to him. We've worked together to deliver Crossrail, to deliver the Olympics on time, we've worked really closely together," Osborne said.

"Sometimes [there are] people you don't in honest truth get on with, and it appears in the papers. But I read about not getting on with Boris Johnson – that is just not true. I get on very well with him."

He also said he would be happy to see Johnson come back to the House of Commons "at the next election, or whenever". But that was Johnson's decision, he said.