How modern British politics keeps it in the family

Emine Saner has an article in today's Guardian looking at the number of children of politicians who are trying to follow the same career.

In it she quotes Professor Steven Fielding from Nottingham University who compares the number of political families to:

"the later 19th century and early 20th century, when access to politics was restricted, and you couldn't afford to be in politics unless you had quite a lot of money, and it was expected that the aristocracy played a certain role. That diminished in the 20th century but it has reasserted itself for slightly different reasons. Class plays a role, but these people are more middle-class and they have the skills of their parents and networks. They're not from grand families, but they are from well-connected families."

He adds that the political world isn't the only place where this is happening – journalism is another, and law.

"It's not a good thing that politics, or any profession, is open to certain people and not others."