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OXFORD, England, Nov 19 (Reuters) As Britain hurtles into the deepest slowdown in more than 15 years, a party funding scandal has reminded the country of its most enduring schism: class. This does not bode well for the opposition Conservatives.
In a more buoyant climate the scandal -- involving Conservative finance spokesman George Osborne, posh drinking clubs, a yacht and a Russian billionaire -- may have made little more than tasty fodder for the country's voracious media.
But as many Britons lay blame for mounting redundancies on rich City bankers -- who in their white-collared stripey shirts are often closely allied to the party of the wealthy and elite -- it could not have come at a worse time for the Conservatives.
Traditionally seen as a bedrock of the upper classes, the party had been striving to broaden its appeal: a quick glance at its past leaders and chairmen shows a list littered with Barons, Viscounts and Lords.
Since David Cameron became leader in 2005, the Conservatives, or Tories, have worked to secure working-class votes if they are to end 11 years of Labour rule at the next election, due by mid-2010.
But the scandal in late October, involving Osborne, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and their mutual friend the banking heir Nathaniel Rothschild, brought the Conservatives' elite connections firmly back into view.
Rothschild alleged that Osborne, his friend since they were members of an exclusive drinking and dining club at Oxford University, had tried to solicit a large donation to the party from Deripaska, whose yacht he visited in the Mediterranean last August. Osborne denied seeking any such donation.
The focus of the scandal -- sources of party funding -- is a topic which has dogged both the main parties. But it was the Conservatives' association with friends in high places and the exposure of an old boys' network that did the damage.
''It does look incredibly bad when these leading politicians are flouncing around having cocktails... It does revive old kinds of images about the Conservatives that they've been adept at hiding for some time,'' said Steven Fielding, director of the Centre for British Politics at Nottingham University.
For some commentators and voters, the incident, which also involved Labour minister Peter Mandelson and appeared only to come to light as some act of revenge, simply highlighted that politics as a whole is an elitist business.
Trevor Phillips, the head of the country's equality watchdog, argued after the election of Barack Obama as US president that the way political parties are organised means a candidate of his background would never be elected in Britain.
''There are an awful lot of rich Labour politicians too,'' noted Carol Richmond, 65, who is retired and lives in Cameron's constituency.
''All it can do is further reinforce many people's attitudes that politics is distanced from many people's reality... It reinforces this attitude that politics is not for ordinary people, it's an elitist game,'' Fielding said.
A survey by education charity the Sutton Trust in 2005 found 32 per cent of British members of parliament went to fee-paying schools, which educate just 7 percent of the population, and 27 per cent are graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, the UK's two most prestigious universities.
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