Re: Goodbye to the Working Class?

Date: 12th Sept '02

Name: andy

Country: east of the thames

UP THE WORKERS: Now 68 percent of Brits say they are working class
By Oonagh Blackman, Deputy Political Editor, Daily Mirror

MORE than two thirds of Britons are proud to think of themselves as working class, it was revealed yesterday.

And more than half those who would normally be regarded as middle class admitted they had working class leanings, according to a survey.

The Mori poll of social values found 68 per cent agreed with the statement: "I'm working class and proud of it."

That compares with just 52 per cent who were asked the same question during a similar poll three years ago.

The research also found that people do not necessarily believe that their social standing has anything to do with the type of job they have.

And last night Cherie Blair was hailed as the perfect example of a working class woman. The surprise accolade came from former Labour MP Joe Ashton as he discussed the survey's findings in a Radio 4 interview.

The ex-MP for Bassetlaw - famous for his love of chip butties and working men's clubs - said the PM's wife was typically working class because her mother Gale looks after her children while she goes to work. Despite the fact that she earns 300,000 a year as a top barrister and lives in comparative luxury, he explained: "If you want to define a working class woman it's the relationship between her and her mother.

"The mother looks after the kids while she goes out to work - just like Cherie Blair does. Cherie is working class from Liverpool."

But Mr Ashton was not so sure privately-educated Tony Blair - who once predicted we would all soon be middle class - would fall into the same social category.

He said: "If you are a working class bloke it means you have got an army of friends who live off their skills and their wits and don't live off their education."

Mori expert Dr Roger Mortimore said the poll, based on almost 2,000 interviews, went against conventional thinking that the number of working class in Britain is falling.

He said: "It seems that over the period of office of the present Government there has been a remarkable renaissance in the feeling of working class solidarity."

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