Adam Boulton: Westminster’s ‘nepo babies’ are here to stay – whether we like it or not
“It’s not who you are but who you know” is a saying often used to explain why those with family connections to successful people seem to have a head start doing well in the next generation.
In the US this phenomenon has led Gen Z to coin a new tag “nepo babies” as they list those in showbusiness deemed to have been given a big helping hand by family connections.
Regardless of the talent they have displayed in their own work, the inference is that they got there in part because of nepotism – those in positions of power and influence favouring their relatives, literally from the Greek Nepos, nephew.
It will always be noted that the actor Kate Hudson and film director Sophia Coppola, say, are the children, respectively, of the actor Goldie Hawn and the film director Francis Ford Coppola.
With emotions ranging from contempt and jealousy to admiration and awe, social media has extended the list of nepo babies to sport and politics.
Kate Hudson and Goldie Hawn at the premiere of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Pic: AP)
“In tennis the ‘nepo babies’ are everywhere” was the headline of an article in the New York Times this week. Nobody can deny that numerous members of the Roosevelts, Kennedys and Bush clans have made it to high office.
The phenomenon or, as many see it, the problem of nepotism extends to British politics.
Since 2010 the House of Commons library has been keeping a list of MPs related to other current or former members.
In the current parliament, elected in 2019, 49 MPs are listed. That amounts to one MP in 13, 7.5% of the total membership of 650.
It does not count those who may have close relatives in the House of Lords, or first cousins in either house.
Of those currently in the Commons related by blood to MPs past and present there are 17 grandchildren, great-grandchildren nephews, nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces; 13 sons; 4 daughters; 3 sisters; 2 brothers; and one uncle. Currently there are also seven wives and five husbands, though that is a matter of choice rather than genetics.
Some of these have multiple connections. The inclination to dynasticism is not confined to any party. The former Labour cabinet minister Hilary Benn has five links, including to his father Tony Benn, the staunch Republican, a grandfather, two great-grandfathers and a brother who has revived the family title, Viscount Stansgate, in the House of Lords.
Intricate nexus of family connections
The best-connected Conservative is the MP for the Cotswolds Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown who has forebears in the Commons sharing the same surname going back four generations.
The most intricate nexus of family connections centres on John Cryer, currently chair of the parliamentary Labour Party. He is the son of two Labour MPs – Bob and Ann Cryer – married to another one, Ellie Reeves, who in turn is the sister of the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Three Conservative ministers – Victoria Prentis, Victoria Atkins and Andrew Mitchell – are the children of former Tory Ministers. “Red Princes” on the Labour side include frontbencher Stephen Kinnock, son of former leader Neil and Mr Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, son of Doug, now Lord, Hoyle.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle
The Father of the House, the longest serving MP, Sir Peter Bottomley is married to a former Tory MP, Virginia, and the uncle of a Labour one, Kitty Ussher. Sir Patrick Jenkin, the chair of the Liaison Committee, is the son of Patrick, a former cabinet minister now in the Lords, and married to another peer, Anne, who has had a leading role in selecting Conservative parliamentary candidates.
The political connections game is not limited to Labour and the Conservatives. Great Liberal families include the Asquiths, Bonham-Carters and Grimonds, some of whom are still active in the Lords.
For the DUP Ian Paisley Junior bears the name of his father, a former MP, MLA, MEP and husband of a peer. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is married to Peter Murrell CEO of the SNP.
Social media has exposed people’s backgrounds and made it increasingly likely that they will be pigeon-holed for them.
‘Magic circles’ of influence
Those who feel excluded from “magic circles” of influence are often resentful, especially when there is rivalry between circles – sometimes to comic effect.
The broadcaster Amol Rajan complained publicly about too many presenters at the BBC speaking with received-pronunciation accents, often picked up at private schools.
His Today programme colleague Justin Webb, who went to private school, countered that he thought there were too many people at the BBC with Oxbridge backgrounds. Rajan is a Cambridge graduate, Webb went to the LSE.
Charges of nepotism are taken more seriously than such narcissism of small differences. Ian Wooldridge, the author of The Aristocracy Of Talent: How Meritocracy Made The Modern World, argues that “the march of progress can be measured by the abolition of nepotism”.
Amol Rajan is a Cambridge graduate
Few would challenge his contention that “it can’t be good for democracy if representative positions are hogged by people who belong to a narrow, privileged caste”.
Yet anyone who becomes an MP must pass successfully thorough democratic selection processes.
First by getting on a party candidates list, then by being selected, and finally by winning an election. The factionalism of politics can mean that it is not always an asset to have well-known antecedents.
For a high-profile position such as an MP, which is heavily dependent on personality, it would be almost impossible to go “CV blind” – unless unnamed candidates were interviewed unseen behind a screen like on the old TV show Blind Date and at some orchestral auditions.
In many walks of life families want to pass a particular occupation or business down the generations. Children may get to know the ropes early. Speaker Hoyle says he first attended a Labour Conference as a babe in arms.
Long successions of nepo babies
In history the hereditary principle has frequently been the basis of social and political organisation. Monarchies, including the British Crown, are long successions of nepo babies, as are the aristocracies which often grow up under their patronage. Even the king-killer Oliver Cromwell made his son his heir as Lord Protector.
In the 18th and 19th Centuries British prime ministers came more often than not from the hereditary House of Lords rather than the elected Commons. Many prominent families also had control in constituencies effectively appointing family members as MPs.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the third Marquess of Salisbury, was the last prime minister to govern from the Lords, finally ending his third term in 1902. The keen meritocrat Ian Woolridge points out that the phrase “Bob’s your uncle” dates from Salisbury’s efforts ensuring that his nephew, Arthur Balfour MP was the next PM.
The Cecil family have rendered political services and held high offices at least since Queen Elizabeth I. The current Lord Salisbury, also named Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, was an MP and then a minister in John Major’s government.
He subsequently brokered the deal with New Labour, which kept seats in the House of Lords for a rump of hereditary peers, while drastically reducing their number. Viscount Cranbourn, the courtesy title by which he was then known, recused himself from standing to be one of the peers remaining in parliament.
It has not been, and nor will be, so easy to remove Westminster’s other nepo babies from their positions of power and influence, assuming that is what Meritocrats would like to do.
Vladimir Putin has thanked soldiers “fighting for our motherland” in Ukraine – as he was sworn in as Russian president for a fifth time.
At a ceremony in the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, Mr Putin placed his hand on the Russian constitution and vowed to defend it as a crowd of hand-picked dignitaries looked on.
An artillery salute marked the end of the official presidential inauguration, and as he left the palace to the sound of the Russian national anthem, a round of applause erupted from those in the audience.
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin claims he could work with West
Mr Putin places his hand on the constitution. Pic: Kremlin.ru/Reuters
Tuesday’s inauguration marks the start of another six years at the top for Mr Putin, 71.
He is already the Kremlin’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, having been in power for nearly two-and-a-half decades – 20 years as president, four as prime minister.
By the end of this term, only Catherine the Great will be ahead of him – she ruled Russia way back in the 18th century.
His new term does not expire until 2030, when he will be constitutionally eligible to run again.
When he succeeded Boris Yeltsin in 1999, Russia was emerging from economic collapse.
Under his leadership, most notably since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the country has become a pariah state that threatens global security, reliant on regimes like China, Iran and North Korea for support.
Russia’s enormous advantage in resources has gradually turned the tide in Ukraine in Moscow’s favour, but both sides have been suffering heavy casualties.
Following his widely-anticipated re-election in March, Mr Putin suggested a confrontation between NATO and Russia was possible, and he declared he wanted to carve out a buffer zone in Ukraine to protect his country from cross-border attacks.
The ceremony took place at the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace
With major changes at home and abroad over the past two years, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the circumstances do not make it more important to give the public the right to speak out.
“It needs tougher measures to ensure the victory, to ensure that we reach our goals,” he told Sky News, when asked if Russians should not have more say during a war.
He insisted that is a democratic stance in “the same circumstances Western media exists in Europe and the US” and denied Mr Putin has made the country a dictatorship.
“This is not the case absolutely, absolutely, it’s just propaganda, it’s rough propaganda, nothing else,” he added.
“So, we are living in our country, in our own environment and it’s purely democratic. We choose our power. We elect our power. We elect our president.”
Pic: Reuters
As the country’s economy remains on a war footing, analysts say that, with another term in office secured, the Kremlin could take the unpopular steps of raising taxes to fund the war and pressure more men to join the military.
The repression that has characterised Mr Putin’s time in office continued when his greatest political foe, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic penal colony in February.
Mr Peskov told Sky News opposition remains in the country, but added “of course the conditions are much more tough around here because we are in war conditions”.
Other prominent critics have either been imprisoned or have fled the country, and even some of his opponents abroad fear for their security.
Laws have been promising long prison terms for anyone who discredits the military.
The Kremlin also targets independent media, rights groups, LGBTQ+ activists and others who do not adhere to what Mr Putin has emphasised as Russia’s “traditional family values”.
Read more:
Another inauguration – and more of the same for Russia
US soldier ‘detained in Russia’
Cameron defends Ukraine’s use of UK weapons
Sky News’ international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn said Mr Putin “has taken a country that was emerging from communism and economic collapse towards reform and reintegration into the international community, and he’s turned it in a pariah state threatening global security while he and his kleptocracy have stolen billions”.
He added: “In his inauguration speech, Putin said Russia stands united [but] an estimated 900,000 Russians have voted with their feet and left the country since his invasion of Ukraine.”
Rishi Sunak has said Beijing is “acting in a way that is more authoritarian and assertive abroad” after Sky News revealed China hacked the Ministry of Defence
The prime minister made his first comments about the massive data breach on Tuesday lunchtime after Sky News revealed on Monday evening that China is responsible for hacking the armed forces’ third-party payroll system.
He refused to name China but said a “malign actor has compromised the armed forces payment network”.
“I set out a very robust policy towards China, which means that we need to take the powers which we have done to protect ourselves against the risk that China and other countries pose to us,” he added.
“They are a country with fundamentally different values to ours that are acting in a way that is more authoritarian and assertive abroad.”
Mr Sunak said he wanted to reassure people the MoD has already removed the network, taken it offline and is “making sure the people affected are supported in the right way”.
Names and bank details of current army, Royal Navy and RAF personnel and some veterans were exposed by the hack.
Read more:
Can UK have its cake and eat it after China MoD hack?
China said the accusations were “completely fabricated and malicious slanders”.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London denied the country had anything to do with an MoD hack and said it had made “relevant responses” to accusations on the 25 and 27 March.
He accused the UK of politicising cyber security and claimed there was no factual evidence of China hacking the MoD.
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China: Hacking allegations ‘absurd’
‘China has no need to meddle in internal affairs of UK’
The spokesman said: “I will hereby reiterate that the so-called cyber attacks by China against the UK are completely fabricated and malicious slanders.
“We strongly oppose such accusations. China has always firmly fought all forms of cyber attacks according to law. China does not encourage, support or condone cyber attacks.
“At the same time, we oppose the politicisation of cyber security issues and the baseless denigration of other countries without factual evidence.
“China has neither the interest nor the need to meddle in the internal affairs of the UK.”
The attack was focused on a contractor system that is not connected to the main MoD computer systems. It has now been taken down and a review launched.
All salaries will be paid this month and the MoD hopes serving personnel will not be concerned about their safety, with staff to be provided with advice and support.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is due to make a statement on the issue to the Commons this afternoon.
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and former soldier, told Sky News China “was probably looking at the financially vulnerable with a view that they may be coerced in exchange for cash”.
Read more:
Beijing poses ‘constant’ threat to western cybersecurity
China ‘trying to undermine our democracy’
Sir Iain Duncan Smith says the government needs to stand up to China. File pic: PA
China is winning the war
Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who has been sanctioned by China, told Sky News: “China is behind this.
“And the reluctance, I think, comes from this panic that somehow if we upset China, China will kill the business.”
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the hack was “deeply concerning” and the government “has got questions to answer”.
Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said Beijing has carried out many cyber attacks on Britain but the UK has only retaliated once in the form of sanctioning the companies carrying out the attack rather than the Chinese government.
He added that FBI director Christopher Wray “put it pretty starkly” when he said Beijing’s cyber espionage programme is so vast it is bigger than all its major competitors combined.
The hack targeted an MoD payroll system. File pic: Reuters
Not China’s first cyber attack on UK
The hack could raise questions about whether other countries with challenging relationships with China will want to share sensitive intelligence with the UK.
The attack comes less than two months after “state-affiliated actors”, alleged to be working on behalf of China, were blamed by the government for two “malicious” cyber attack campaigns in the UK.
World
Israel-Hamas war: Embattled Netanyahu’s choice – Accept ceasefire deal or gamble on Rafah incursion
There are many in Israel who don’t believe Benjamin Netanyahu wants a new hostage deal, and they’re not just the families of those still being held in Gaza.
Such is the scepticism with which Israel’s prime minister is now regarded, a growing number of Israelis are starting to think their embattled leader wants to string out the fighting as long as possible as a means to remain in office.
Having spent much of Monday blaming Hamas for collapsing ceasefire talks, the group’s dramatic acceptance of a ceasefire proposal last night certainly threw the Israeli government.
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IDF ‘take control’ of crossing in Gaza
War latest: 20 militants killed as Israel takes partial control of crossing
Whether or not Hamas has agreed to the same Israeli proposal that Antony Blinken described as “generous” only a few days ago however, is unclear.
The Israeli government’s initial response, late last night, was to claim it was a different proposal and something Israel had not agreed to.
There are parties to these negotiations who will know if that is true or not: The CIA Director Bill Burns has spent much time in the Middle East over recent months and has been criss-crossing between Cairo, Doha and Tel Aviv over the past few days.
He will be fully across each word of any proposal and how the language has shifted; he will know who is acting in good faith, and if either side isn’t.
The fact the Israeli war cabinet has agreed to send a negotiating team to Cairo today, something they didn’t do last week, shows they are taking this seriously, but the parallel move to send IDF troops into Rafah complicates matters.
Houses damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Pic: Reuters
There are two opposing schools of thought here; one says that Netanyahu’s decision to keep fighting and attack Rafah shows he doesn’t want to halt the war, knowing that a ceasefire could very likely spell the end of his government if its right-wing allies resign in protest.
The other view is that Netanyahu has upped the military pressure on Hamas to achieve a hostage deal, just at the moment negotiations are reaching a decisive point.
To suggest Netanyahu is deliberately blocking a new deal “is like Hitler indicting Churchill” a source close to the prime minister texted me on Monday night.
An Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah. Pic: AP
When I asked if Hamas was “playing the PM”, I got laughter emojis back.
But an invasion of Rafah would be a final roll of the dice.
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Displaced people react to IDF’s evacuation warning
Sure, it remains the final unexplored bastion of Hamas in Gaza, but is it really the location of [Hamas leaders] Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and the remaining hostages and would a full-scale operation in Rafah finally achieve Israel’s outstanding objectives?
Read more:
How ceasefire prospects soon evaporated
Peace in Gaza looks as distant as ever
China ‘hacked MoD’
It’s a gamble, and if it doesn’t succeed, Netanyahu will be left with few places to turn.
Palestinians flee Rafah after the Israeli army ordered them to evacuate. Pic: AP
This might be the best deal Netanyahu is going to get then, and he is now under pressure to decide.
If the US, Qatar, Egypt and Hamas all agree it’s a good deal, how can Bibi reject it without being seen as the one preventing the hostages from returning home?
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