The political landscape in Britain has been jolted by the high-profile defection of former Conservative minister Robert Jenrick to the right-wing populist party, Reform UK. Announcing his move on 15 January 2026, Jenrick positioned his new political home as the true champion of workers, declaring a new divide in politics: "Reform's workers party versus the Tory posh party."
The Posh Populist and the Class Conundrum
Jenrick's rhetoric presents an immediate puzzle. He accuses the Conservatives of being out-of-touch toffs, no longer representing "working people, of provincial Britain, of the towns and cities." Political analyst Professor Tim Bale acknowledges the claim has some merit, noting that Reform can claim to be a disproportionately working-class party in its voter base.
Yet Jenrick's own background—educated at a private school and Cambridge University, and a former director of the elite auction house Christie's—seems at odds with this workerist branding. The contradiction is central to the mystery of modern populism: why do parties founded and bankrolled by the wealthy, like Reform UK, successfully attract low-paid and working-class supporters whose financial interests are directly opposed?
Labour's Identity Crisis in a Shifting Class Landscape
The resurgence of class as a political battleground forces the Labour Party to confront its own evolving identity. According to the doyen of pollsters, Professor Sir John Curtice, Labour's core vote is now young middle-class professionals in London. This is a stark shift from its historic roots in the industrial north and Midlands.
This redefinition was painfully highlighted by the Brexit referendum, where many traditional working-class voters marched in the opposite direction to the party's metropolitan supporters. Despite this, Labour's founding mission to fight inequality remains critically urgent. A staggering 84% of the public believe the income gap is too wide, with the wealthiest 10% owning five times the wealth of the entire bottom half of the country.
Education: The New Great Divide
A forthcoming report from the National Centre for Social Research underscores that education has become a powerful proxy for class and a key predictor of voting behaviour. It finds that a person with education below A-levels has about twice the odds of voting Conservative or Reform UK compared to a university graduate.
This educational cleavage presents a long-term challenge for the right. As noted, Reform's supporters are significantly older and less likely to be graduates; only one in five holds a degree. Professor Curtice suggests this demographic reality may limit the party's growth, describing their socially conservative stance as a "dying gasp" rather than a rising force, unless it can attract the young.
Labour, meanwhile, must grapple with the unintended consequences of its own success in expanding education. While half of working-age adults now have a degree-level qualification, Britain has badly failed the one in five left with no formal qualifications, a record worse than similar nations.
In response, the government is prioritising early years education through Best Start hubs, further education, and apprenticeships—a clear attempt to put class-based inequality first. The question remains whether a Labour Party increasingly led and supported by the educated middle classes will be trusted to deliver for those left behind, or whether it will fall into the class war trap being laid by Jenrick and Reform's leader, Nigel Farage. If class is to be the defining battleground of the next election, it is ultimately Labour's historic turf—and the party must now prove it can reclaim it.
