Ousted No 10 aide complains of class bias in Westminster

Northern accent led to me being branded an ‘oik’, says Cummings ally Lee Cain

Ousted Downing Street director of communications Lee Cain has broken his silence to complain of class discrimination at Westminster.

Cain, whose resignation in November sparked the departure from No 10 of his close ally Dominic Cummings, said that his northern accent and modest background led to him being branded an “oik” in the corridors of power.

But he insisted the problem was not with ministers such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, who “judged me only on my abilities, not my background”, instead pointing the finger at senior Whitehall officials, who he said behaved as if he should be grateful to have got as far as Downing Street.

Lancashire-born Mr Cain, who worked with old Etonian Johnson on the Vote Leave campaign and in the Foreign Office before following him to No 10, said that his treatment reflected a UK where the most powerful jobs are dominated by the 7 per cent who attended private school, leaving them “out of touch” with the challenges faced by working class communities.

Writing in The Spectator, he said: “It still matters what school tie you wore, it matters what accent you have and it matters what class you are. This is a disaster for working-class boys and girls.

“My experiences in Westminster made it easy to see why young working-class women and men struggle to get ahead. Class-based bias still exists. 

“I lost count of the times I was branded a ‘bruiser’, ‘thuggish’ or even an ‘oik’ for the twin crimes of having a strong northern accent and shaved hair. 

“Luckily I have a skin thicker than my accent. I also had employers, especially Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, who judged me only on my abilities, not my background. 

“But when I first entered Downing Street I got the distinct feeling that some senior officials thought I should be content simply to be there. The clear message was: you’ve come a long way, don’t over-reach now.

“Yet if men and women with thick accents and poorer backgrounds are kept quietly away from the top roles, or undermined when they reach them, then political parties and business leaders will find themselves ever more baffled and out of touch with the people they seek to lead.”

Mr Cain said that at a government meeting last year to discuss footballer Marcus Rashford’s food poverty campaign, he was the only person present who had qualified for free school meals.

And he said that the Covid generation was now facing “a post-pandemic catastrophe”, with opportunities diminishing most for those without the advantages of wealth, connections and class.

But he said that his time inside government had convinced him that Mr Johnson was genuine about his promises to “level up” the UK’s disadvantaged communities so that “the only limit is your ability and ambition”.

The capture of traditionally Labour “Red Wall” seats in 2019 had brought about “radical change” in the demographics of Conservative party voters, attracting in many who are unhappy with the status quo and want affordable housing, better state schools and access to skilled jobs, he said.

Mr Cain, who has founded strategic advisory firm Charlesbye since leaving No 10, called for a new “people-focused” strategy with education and skills at its core, businesses encouraged to relocate to disadvantaged communities and the Social Mobility Commission “reset” to drive the agenda across Whitehall.

“After the pandemic and all the promises this government made, tackling inequality is now a moral imperative,” he wrote. “Our ambitions must match the scale of the problem. Now is the time, as the prime minister himself would say, to double down on levelling up.”