In this blog post, we examine the UK secondary schools and universities that educated Cabinet ministers between 1922 and 2022. The UK seems widely relevant, as every country possesses elite formation systems. Secondary schools form the social connections and worldviews of students (Macionis & Gerber, 2011); while higher education facilitates a process of socialisation through which graduates gain the knowledge, skills and dispositions to participate in society (Weidman & DeAngelo, 2020). Concern arises, however, in the absence of diversity in elite formation – such elites may be vulnerable to group think.

Between 1922 and 2022, there were 479 British Cabinet ministers. Of these, 425 were educated in 239 UK schools and 414 attended 64 UK universities. In 1992, John Major headed a Cabinet of 25, 18 public school (which in the UK means private school) alumni and 19 Oxbridge (Hartmann, 2009). In 2022 Rishi Sunak, a public school alumnus, became the 13th of the then 17 post-war prime ministers to have studied at Oxbridge. His Cabinet of 22 consisted of 11 public schools and 10 Oxbridge alumni (Hogan & Feeney, 2024).

Schools that educated Cabinet ministers

While fee-paying schools constitute 7 per cent of all secondary schools, they educated 59 per cent (284) of Cabinet ministers (BESA, 2024; Independent Schools Council, 2023). The top 10 secondary schools, educating 147 (31 per cent) Cabinet ministers, were all public schools (table 1). This overrepresentation is higher in schools such as Eton, where 67 (14 per cent) ministers were educated. Only George Watson’s College is located outside England.

Table 1: Where Cabinet ministers from the top 10 schools went to university 1922–2022

Source: (Hogan & Feeney, 2024)

Universities that educated Cabinet ministers

‘Oxbridge educated 14 of the 21 prime ministers between 1922 and 2022 … and 45 per cent of Cabinet ministers in 2022.’

Of the 169 UK universities, only 64 educated Cabinet ministers. Oxford educated 157 Cabinet ministers (33 per cent) and Cambridge 87 (18 per cent) (Hogan & Feeney, 2024). Together Oxbridge educated 14 of the 21 prime ministers between 1922 and 2022. The other four ancient universities – founded before 1600: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh – accounted for only 31 (6.4 per cent) Cabinet ministers and two prime ministers, Bonar Law (Glasgow, PM 1922–23) and Gordon Brown (Edinburgh, PM 2007–10). The top 10 universities educated 327 (68 per cent) Cabinet ministers (table 2).

Table 2: Top 10 universities educating Cabinet ministers 1922–2022

Source: (Hogan & Feeney, 2024)

Concentrated presence in Cabinet

In figure 1, Oxford and Cambridge accounted for 75 per cent of Cabinet ministers in 1922 and 45 per cent in 2022. The presence of Oxbridge graduates depended upon whether the Conservatives, or Labour, were in office. Eton alumni had a strong Cabinet presence in the 20th century. While the presence of private school alumni decreased from 73 per cent in the Major Cabinet (1992–97) to 25 per cent in Blair’s first administration (1997–2001), figure 1 shows their presence increased subsequently, reaching 64 per cent in Johnson’s 2020 Conservative Cabinet.

Figure 1: Percentage of Cabinet seats held by Oxford, Cambridge, Eton and private school graduates in UK governments 1922–2022

Dangers of group think and bias

The concentration of elite formation systems raises concerns that their graduates will suffer from group think. Thomas (1986) pointed to this when considering Cabinet decisions during the Suez crisis in 1956. Nine members of Eden’s Cabinet had been educated at Eton, the rest at other public schools, and all but two graduated from Oxbridge (Thomas, 1986). Another concern is that elites may be biased in favour of in-groups. After the Covid-19 pandemic it emerged that 20 per cent of government contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE), valued at £3.7 billion, were awarded to companies due to personal connections from university and private schools (see Transparency International UK, 2021; Conn et al., 2020). Nevertheless, from figure 1, the presence of Oxbridge and Eton alumni in Cabinet has gradually decreased, hinting that over time graduates of other schools and universities may ascend to ministerial office.

The tools from our paper used to develop this blog post can be employed for quantitatively comparing elite formation systems within or between countries and within or between periods (Hogan & Feeney, 2024). These tools can be used to supplement traditional qualitative approaches, bringing an additional level of transparency. The implications for education research are greater clarity and comparability of elite formation findings from across countries.

References

British Educational Suppliers Association [BESA]. (2024). Key UK education statistics. https://www.besa.org.uk/insights/education-statistics/

Conn, D., Pegg, D., Evans, R., Garside, J., & Lawrence, F. (2020, November 15). ‘Chumocracy’: how Covid revealed the new shape of the Tory establishment. Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/15/chumocracy-covid-revealed-shape-tory-establishment

Hartmann, M. (2009). The sociology of elites. Taylor & Francis.

Hogan, J., & Feeney, S. (2024). Comparing the roles of secondary schools and universities in the formation of British Cabinet ministers, 1922–2022. Review of Education, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70008

Independent Schools Council [ISC]. (2023). ISC census and annual report 2023. https://www.isc.co.uk/media/9316/isc_census_2023_final.pdf

Macionis, J., & Gerber, L. (2011). Sociology. Pearson. 

Thomas, H. (1986). The Suez affair. Weidenfled & Nicolson.

Transparency International UK. (2021). Concern over corruption red flags in 20% of UK’s PPE procurement. https://www.transparency.org.uk/news/concern-over-corruption-red-flags-20-uks-ppe-procurement

Weidman, J. C. & DeAngelo, L. (2020). Toward a 21st century socialization model of higher education’s impact on students. In J. Weidman & L. DeAngelo (Eds.), Socialization in higher education and the early career. Springer.