At its core, this story is about power. Politics, democracy and policy-making have failed to keep pace with the profound structural changes that have taken place in society over the past 40 years, and the consequent dislocation of political representation from the mass of people is undermining democratic legitimacy. The political theorist Robert Dahl described the democratic ideal as, ‘In making collective decisions, the … interests of each person should be given equal consideration.’ From education to immigration to housing, it is clear that the interests of each person have not been given equal consideration. Power has become increasingly concentrated rather than dispersed, and has shifted between and within groups rather than widely shared.

In every developed liberal democracy there are signs that traditional democracy is creaking. Populist movements have gained support, voter turnout has declined and fewer people are members of political parties. Citizens have become increasingly distrustful of politicians and the capacity of politics to serve them, exacerbated by recent scandals over financial expenses and harassment. There is no straightforward explanation. Corruption is low. Citizens are more critical, but this does not explain widespread mistrust. Collective expression has waned, but this does not offer a full account. The reorientation of power in society and the economy has fundamentally altered who governs. Changes in social class are central to understanding these shifts in power, and to underpinning the kinds of democratic reform that would strengthen and re-legitimise modern democracy.

The decline in the political and democratic representation of working-class people is partly due to the impact of a series of economic and industrial trends. But this has not simply been an accident. It has been enabled by a systematic dismantling of working-class institutions, accompanied by the denigration of what it means to be working class. ‘What I do not think many people have yet woken up to is that the working class has been subjected to a sustained programme of social contempt and institutional erosion which has persisted through many different governments and several political fashions.’ The author of this? Aristocrat and former head of policy for Margaret Thatcher, Ferdinand Mount.