Does your background make a difference?

John Thurso Member of Parliament

Educated: Eton College, Windsor

"I'm a downwardly mobile Member of Parliament. I went down from the House of Lords rather than going up there from the Commons. Never in my life has my background been of any advantage. It has quite often been a disadvantage. When you find yourself as a waiter at Claridge's and they find out you went to a public school it's not an advantage. These days in commerce and politics people are looking for ability. I have no doubt that in every society, if your father knows someone it has an effect. A few years ago if you looked at the major city firms, Eton, Oxford and the Guards would have been a pretty good way in. Now people look for academic qualifications, they give candidates psychometric tests and interviews. What people are looking for in industry, politics and the City is people with ability. In another generation we will be pretty meritocratic."

Stephen Hockman Queen's Counsel

Educated: Eltham College, South London

"If recruitment to the bench is on merit we have to ensure people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not excluded. But we also have to be careful not to positively discriminate by saying that we favour the less well off. So we have to try to establish a level playing field in the recruitment process... The judiciary and the legal professions exist to serve the public. If we don't adequately reflect the public then there's a perception that we are elitist. I think we have to counter this perception by making sure that family background and income do not stop people from coming to the Bar.We need to keep this in perspective. Our role is to maximise the chances of recruitment on merit and if more people from the middle classes train to be barristers then that's bound to have some impact on the source of recruitment to the profession."

Roger Alton Editor, The Observer

Educated: Clifton College, Bristol

"We are incomparably less meritocratic than we were 20 years ago. Levels of social mobility are down, the blanket use of comprehensive education has not made Britain a more meritocratic country... it's much more difficult for people without money to get a good education. It's much easier for people with money and influence, whether they pay for it or they manipulate their children into it. I pay for my daughter's private education and would much rather do that than try to join a church or move house. I think campaigns against private education are twaddle. You could do a survey about whether people have red hair, like football, are married or are single and you'd find some movement in it. Of all the people I have employed I don't think I've ever asked where they were educated or what kind of degree/A-levels/O-levels/whatever they have got."

Mike Penning Member of Parliament

Educated: Appleton and King Edmund comprehensive schools, Essex

"People like me being elected to Parliament are examples of [how backgroud matters less]. I have an empathy with people. I have been made redundant and have been in negative equity. You don't have to have experienced that but it does give you an understanding of what people are going through," said Mike Penning, who is the Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead. "If Parliament was full of Mike Pennings it would not be a good place, just as it would not be if it was full of aristocrats. We need to see more people from ordinary backgrounds coming through." He said he believes people's backgrounds do not make as much difference as they once did. "What we need in politics is a mix of people. As more and more people go to university we will see more from a university background coming into politics but that should not mean they do not empathise with voters."

Sir Peter Smith High Court Judge

Educated: Bridlington Grammar School, Yorkshire

"When I applied for Bar School funding from an Inn, I was told I was too poor to be a barrister and should get a salaried job," said Sir Peter, who was brought up by a single mother with his five brothers and sisters on a council estate in Hornsea, east Yorkshire. "I then applied to Lincoln's Inn, which said the only thing holding me back was money and gave me two scholarships. That was my first brush with injustice and it spurred me to fight it." His modest background meant he had to spend the first six years of his legal career as a law lecturer at Manchester University. "I would not have become a barrister if the current financial regime had been in place. But there are always injustices, and it's a question of how you deal with them. You can moan or you can do something. I prefer the latter."

Martin Townsend Editor, Sunday Express

Educated: Harrow County Grammar for boys (State Selective), London College of Printing

"Harrow County was a very good grammar school and run almost along public school lines. The teachers wore mortar boards and gowns and we had school houses and strong discipline. I'm not privately educated but the thing I've noticed about people who are is that they have this extra layer of confidence at a very young age. When looking to take on people for the newspaper you are always looking for enthusiasm and confidence and it comes through very brightly in privately educated youngsters. There are lots of really good state schools around but the fact is that if you have a private education you are almost guaranteed to have that self- confidence and belief, and I think that's why so many of them end up in the media."