How Britain is being ruled by a ‘new elite’ of radically awakened middle-class liberals who are completely out of touch with the public

HERE are three amazing things that have happened in the UK in the past few weeks.

First, the charity Oxfam advised its employees to avoid the word “mother” in favor of “gender-neutral” language in certain circumstances.

4

4

Second, the Girl Guides and the Brownies leaders were instructed to learn a new list of words, including “aromatic,” “demisexual,” and “agender.”

And third, Tory MP Miriam Cates told PMQs how school children are taught that there are more than 70 genders and how to have oral sex and “safely choke their partner”.

What do all of these things have in common, other than reflecting the sheer speed at which the world is going completely insane?

They reflect the rise of a new elite, a new ruling class that not only holds a worldview radically different from everyone else, but is now imposing that worldview on the rest of the country.

This new elite – as I reveal in my latest book – is vastly different from the old elite that ruled Britain decades ago.

Deeply hypocritical

While this old elite was defined by their extreme wealth, inherited titles and estates, the members of Britain’s new ruling class are defined by very different things.

They are often defined by their elite education at the most prestigious Oxbridge or Russell Group universities.

They are defined by their zip code in one of the big cities or college towns where they not only soak up the economic gains of globalization but also tend to marry and hang out with other members of the elite graduate class who share the same background.

They are defined by their professional, mid-level jobs in knowledge, cultural and public sector institutions such as the BBC, universities and the creative industries, which give them immense cultural power over the national conversation.

These include the people who now run public institutions, the universities, the creative industries, the increasingly political class of celebrities like Carol Vorderman and Gary Lineker, the rights activists who argue that their profession should no longer be impartial, or prominent left-leaning journalists , like Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and others who are similarly shaping the national conversation around a particular set of minority values. Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell. Almost every Radio 4 presenter.

And above all, they define themselves by their very liberal, if not radical, “sweet” values, which they are now imposing on the rest of the country through their tight control of institutions.

The problem with all of this, as my new book shows, is that on a whole range of issues – immigration, the small boats, gender, history and British identity – the New Elite are often in a galaxy of their own and share views with those of the majority of the rest of the country are not shared.

They want more immigration, while many people want less.

They want to accelerate the pace of social change, while many people want to pause and slow it down.

They don’t think stopping the small boats crossing the channel is a priority while most ordinary people do.

They believe that a man can become a woman and a woman a man, when most people don’t.

They view Britain and other Western nations as institutionally “racist” when most other people do not.

And increasingly, they celebrate Britishness only through the lens of international liberal themes like ‘diversity’, while many people want to spend just as much time celebrating things that set Britain apart as its unique history and culture.

Of course, there have always been divisions between the rulers and the ruled. But in today’s politics, where these cultural issues have become much more important to people, this is a big problem.

And it is now compounded by the fact that much of the New Elite is also embracing a far more radical wake-up ideology, which they see as a crucial new source of social status.

While the old elite used to show their status to other elites by pointing out their family titles, estates or membership in London’s exclusive clubs, today the new elite projects their status and sense of moral righteousness by demonstrating their allegiance to the Awakening.

In the closed world of the New Elite, this belief system, along with their complex vocabulary—terms like “white privilege,” “white guilt,” “pangender,” or “agender”—is a crucial new status trait they use to distinguish themselves from the “ inferior” masses below.

It’s also deeply hypocritical.

The new elite routinely demands things that signal their status to other elites, such as open borders, relaxed handling of small boats or the sexualization of children, which they themselves do not have to endure.

For this reason, writer Rob Henderson calls this new ruling elite the “luxury belief class” — they propagate luxury beliefs that make them look good in front of other elites, that cost them little but are negatively damaging to others in society.

It is not the New Elite who must grapple with the ill effects of a new era of mass immigration. It’s the workers and those left behind.

Regularly ignored

It is not the New Elite who are dealing with the disastrous effects of family breakdown because they are more likely to marry, stay married and raise their children in marriage. It’s the working class.

Again and again, the isolated New Elite are demanding policies that are not only opposed by much of the rest of the country, but that affect other people disproportionately negatively.

This huge gap between the elite and the masses is what I believe is why so many people have rebelled against the elite over the past decade.

While the New Elite have convinced themselves that voters were lured into voting for populism, Brexit and Boris by social media, Dominic Cummings, Russia or what was written on the side of a big red bus, many people want to in reality, simply affirming their values ​​and voice, which they now feel are routinely ignored.

And unless we can close this growing chasm between the people who rule us and the people who must live with the consequences of their decisions, I for one expect many more revolts in the years and decades to come.

• Matthew Goodwin’s Values, Voice, And Virtue: The New British Politics (Penguin) is out tomorrow, priced at £10.99.

4

4