It’s a measure of how topsy-turvy our political culture has become that Theresa May, a Conservative, Oxford-educated prime minister, can claim to be on the side of “ordinary working-class people” against a sneering “elite”. But while Brexit has made this division central to our political culture, we’ve been heading in this direction for a while.
Earlier this year, I was watching a heated exchange between centrist Labour MP Alan Johnson and Left Unity’s Simon Hardy on the Daily Politics show. At one point, Johnson bellowed across the table: “You’re a middle-class intellectual!” So this is now a stand-alone insult, I thought to myself, and took to Twitter to share my indignation. A friend immediately replied: “He means you.” And she’s right. I am indeed a middle-class intellectual, a member of the metropolitan elite. Given the prevalence of post-Brexit elite-bashing, I’m loath to stick my head above the parapet. But as my liberal intellectual English lecturers used to say, these terms need unpacking.
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