XPost: uk.politics.misc, uk.media, alt.politics.british   
   XPost: uk.media.newspapers   
   From: banana@REMOVE_THIS.borve.demon.co.uk   
      
   In article <1128070635.842903.221390@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,   
   joseph.hutcheon@virgin.net writes   
      
   >banana wrote:   
   >   
   >> In the past, leaders of the Labour Party tend to have been a lot   
   >> brighter than leaders of the Tory Party...   
   >   
   >Looking at post-war leaders of each party, I think the honours are   
   >about even. In terms of academic achievement Harold Wilson was clearly   
   >very bright, but then so were Margaret Thatcher and Ted Heath;   
      
   ??   
      
   Wilson got a first; Thatcher and Heath both got seconds.   
      
   (I'm not sure whether 2.1 or 2.2, nor what Thatcher got for her later   
   BSc in law, but I think if she'd got a first, I would have found a   
   reference. It would be useful if someone could add further info).   
      
   >John   
   >Major left school at 16, but so did Jim Callaghan.   
      
   Callaghan left school at 14.   
      
   Leaving school at 14 does NOT mean that someone is stupid!   
      
   Callaghan was a loyal dickhead who the rulers knew they could trust   
   after the removal of Wilson. In later life he showed his character by   
   rejoicing in being persona grata at the 'Queen mother's' dinner table.   
      
   >Gaitskell was   
   >Oxford educated, but so was Macmillan.  Of the recent Tory leaders   
   >(Hague, IDS, and Howard) two won scholarships to Oxbridge, and Hague   
   >did exceptionally well there, while Blair could only scrape a third..   
      
   I was going to say 'bloody hell, I didn't know that!' Except it's not   
   true. Blair got a second. Again, I don't know whether 2.1 or 2.2.   
      
   Hague got a first.   
      
   Scholarships to Oxbridge don't necessarily mean much. Some are closed.   
   Heath got one too - for playing the organ. What kind of scholarships did   
   Hague and Howard win? In Howard's case, maybe a gangster relative   
   offered an endowment? I think he is quite clever though.   
      
   Do you know whether Michael Howard actually got a degree? If so, what   
   class? I could only find stuff saying he 'attended' Peterhouse, which is   
   a bit like having 'been' to Oxford. (Not sure about Michael Foot   
   either).   
      
   Are you sure about Hague and Howard's scholarships? What kind of   
   scholarships?   
      
   >Neil Kinnock went to university, but no-one's ever regarded him as an   
   >intellectual giant, except perhaps himself.   
      
   He wasn't one of the Labour leaders I was thinking of :-)   
      
   >With regard to the words ascribed to Blair, I wouldn't place much   
   >credence on a third-hand report of a conversation over luch.   
      
   With the possible exception of Hugh Gaitskell, all of the above are or   
   were just errand persons anyway. The Rothschilds etc. may make them   
   think they're important but...   
      
   I would have been amazed if Gaitskell and Crossman hadn't got firsts...   
   Just looked them up. I was right - they both got firsts.   
      
   So if we are talking just academic stuff, the only post-WW2 Labour or   
   Tory leaders I know to have got firsts are Gaitskell, Wilson, and Hague.   
      
   Thatcher, Heath, and Blair had the opportunity to go to university, and   
   came out with second-class degrees.   
      
   Howard and Foot - I await confirmation that they managed to get a degree   
   at all, but it doesn't look as though either of them got a first.   
      
   Major failed his 'O' levels.   
      
   Callaghan didn't have the opportunity to go to university.   
      
   Further info welcome.   
      
   --   
   banana     "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you   
               give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to   
               Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the   
               rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)