Cameron’s children: New Tory MPs will almost all be lawyers or business people

Almost half of the possible new intake went to Oxford or Cambridge

Cameron’s children (eight of the 25 candidates, clockwise from top left): Heidi Allen, James Cartlidge, Rishi Sunak, Edward Argar, Jo Churchill, Ranil Jayawardena, Nusrat Ghani, Alberto Costa

There might be more women and people from ethnic minorities among them, but in another respect the next generation of Conservative MPs will have a familiar look.

The vast majority of “Cameron’s children” due to be elected for the first time in May will be either business people or lawyers, according to a new analysis.

It found that 11 of the 25 Tory candidates in safe seats are in business, while another six are in the legal profession. Almost half went to Oxford or Cambridge University.

There were no people who worked full-time in the public sector – apart from a civil servant and a lawyer – and none who appeared to be on a low income.

The Conservative Home website, which compiled the analysis, said the 2015 intake looked “extremely talented”, with “no shortage of gifted future ministers”.

But it added: “The downside is that the results are unlikely to help correct the party’s main strategic weakness – that it is widely seen as the Party of the Rich. This is deeply unfair on many of the intake, whose background wasn’t in the least privileged – indeed, the reverse – and have made their way in life themselves. But where are the nurses and teachers? The firefighters or police? The social workers or nursery managers or ambulance drivers?”

Seven of the candidates are women and five from ethnic minorities, reflecting moves by the party leadership to diversify its range of MPs.

The newcomers are set to include the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who is standing in Uxbridge, and Oliver Dowden, the deputy chief of staff to David Cameron, who is standing in Hertsmere.