The new Establishment
From Lord Tebbit Sir: Simon Heifer (The death of the Establishment', 7 February) is right to regret the decline of the Establishment which once influenced the conduct of government and much else in this country. Alas, the Establishment, a fluid and ever-changing group drawn from the professions, judiciary, Church, the Lords and Commons, senior Civil Service, property owners, intellectuals and the higher ranks of the military, industry and commerce, is in decline (lawyers apart) and has been ousted by the political class.
The political class embraces the nominated Lords, the Commons, MEPs, members of the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies, the regional assemblies, together with their researchers, local councillors, town hall executives, the quangocracy, members of the race and sex equality and immigration industries, legalaid lawyers, and polytechnic and third-rateuniversity lecturers.
The Establishment was overwhelmingly financially independent of the state, while the political classes are overwhelmingly dependent on the state and the taxpayer. The prosperity and power of the political classes are entirely governed by the size of the state and the willingness of the taxpayers to finance it. Where the Establishment lived with the state in a symbiotic relationship, that of the political classes and the state is largely parasitic. They have control of the financial tap that nourishes them, and they will not easily give up power.
Lord Tebbit
London SW1
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