2. Does it matter if most of those in elite positions in business, finance, law, politics and the media have had little contact with the lives of the majority of people? The UK’s private, fee-paying, independent or ‘public’ schools, as they are sometimes called, have existed for centuries and have survived and prospered despite occasional political attempts to abolish or reform them. Verkaik’s Posh Boys (2018) and Green and Kynaston’s Engines of Privilege (2019) turned critical attention once more to the private sector of education as each study considered it to be a ‘problem’ for British society.

About 7% of the UK’s school population attend these schools. In 2018–19, the fees for boarding schools were £40,668 for Eton and £40,050 for Harrow. The average day fees for prep schools (primary level) were £13,026, and considerably more for secondary schools and sixth forms, making them available only to wealthy families. One reason why parents are prepared to spend so much money is to increase the chances of their sons and daughters gaining entry to Oxford