David Cameron gives Old Etonians a bad name. Critics deplore his Old Etonian-ness, his Lord Snooty Factor. Childish, but it’s an uncomplicated prejudice which can be freely expressed in our otherwise rigidly policed public discourse. Is there an OE who might rescue the school’s reputation? There is: Rory Stewart, 40, Tory MP for Penrith. Known in some quarters as ‘Florence of Belgravia’ because of his expertise in Arabic affairs, he is famous for walking 6,000 miles through Afghanistan in two years and for writing two bestselling books about working there and Iraq. And, says the Guardian – of all papers – he is ‘hugely appealing: self-deprecating, funny, open, curious and kind’. Stewart talks in perfect sentences, never relies on clichés and tells Decca Aitkenhead we should create, in Britain, ‘1,000 little city states, and give power right down to all the bright, energetic people everywhere who just feel superfluous.
