Balls, Cameron and the Powell dynasty

While the debate about class whirls away, both The Times and the Indy have fascinating articles on how the present political elite spent their days at Oxford in the ‘80’s.

The lives of Ed Balls and David Cameron are very much intertwined, as they both are with a member of the Powell family.  Hugh, son of Charles and nephew of Jonathan, is tipped to serve as Cameron's chief of staff if he wins the election:

Who knew both Mr Balls and Mr Cameron?  Catherine Powell (née Young) has the distinction of having befriended 20 years ago the two men. Now a senior executive of Disney, she “can’t remember anything of consequence” about the rivals, who make little secret of their mutual dislike. Since her husband is Hugh Powell, a senior Foreign Office civil servant and the son of Margaret Thatcher’s chief of staff, Charles Powell, her diplomacy is understandable. Mr Powell was studying at Balliol College, Oxford, at the time, having been to Eton. The man some tip to succeed his father and uncle, Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff, into Downing Street should Mr Cameron become Prime Minister, shared a house with Mr Balls while both were at Harvard.

Perhaps it is a real life reminder of Frederic Raphael’s ‘The Glittering Prizes’ from the days when the BBC made good drama.