Why Eton doesn’t see Boris Johnson as a good advert You would think the school would be celebrating having its 20th Prime Minister out of a total of 55 individuals

Britain now has its 20th prime minister to be educated at Eton College, almost exactly 300 years after the first.

Boris Johnson follows the well-trodden public school procession begun by Robert Walpole who left Eton in 1696 to become the country’s first prime minister in 1721. Sandwiched between Johnson and Walpole is a glittering array of Old Etonian leaders including Wellington, Gladstone, the Etonian trio of Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home and more recently Johnson’s school chum David Cameron.

Any other school would be openly glorying in the achievement of turning out a record 20th British prime minister from a total of 55 individuals. But Eton could do with the publicity and media attention like a hole in the head.

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Johnson has become a lightning rod for anyone who has a bone to pick with a system that permits one very expensive school to catapult its pupils to the top of society.

Instead of rejoicing in yet another Eton success story, the master and governors find themselves forced to defend its charitable status and its record of engagement with the community.

What chance does a disadvantaged child have?

After all, Eton was first established in 1440 by King Henry VI for the education of 70 poor scholars. Today it gives a free education to just 83 pupils of its 1,300 intake. People rightly want to know what chance does a disadvantaged child have of following in the footsteps of David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

To partly answer its critics the school has announced plans to offer 12 free sixth-form places to boys “with tremendous potential but limited opportunity”. Eton has reaffirmed its commitment to attracting pupils who might not consider Eton their first port of call by electing to advertise the offer in The Sun on Sunday under the headline: “Send your lad to Eton”.

The usual Eton bursary makes academic excellence a prerequisite. But for this round of bursaries, the headmaster Simon Henderson says: “We are not targeting boys who will do well anyway. We’re looking for applicants with vigour, talent and industry who, without proper support, will not be prepared for or even apply to the country’s top universities.”

A structural problem

But there is a limit to what Eton and the other large charity schools can do to fully fund or even subsidise the fees of children from deprived backgrounds. Eton’s latest accounts show that while annual income broke through the £50m barrier for the first time, the number of pupils receiving help with their fees was fewer than the year before.

The problem is structural. Public schools have a finite amount of cash to subsidise fees through scholarships (which are not means-tested) and bursaries. This money comes from endowments built up over centuries and intended to benefit “poor and indigent scholars”.

If the schools want to extend their bursary schemes they have to either put up their fees or rely on the generosity of philanthropists. The first is simply not an option and the second are very thin on the ground.

Bank balances vs. talent and suitability

But 10 years ago Eton’s stated ambition was to make the school fully needs-blind, so that it was sufficiently endowed to take pupils purely based on their talent and suitability and not because of the size of their parents’ bank balance.

This is now considered an impossible dream. Only a US college such Harvard, which can call upon an endowment fund of £27bn, can operate a truly needs-blind policy.

That leaves schools such as Eton to find alternative ways to bring in more bursary money. But despite its enormous wealth (Eton has more than £400m in investment funds and owns 200 properties) the school regularly taps up old boys for donations.

Those who have done well out of Eton are more than happy to oblige. In 2016 the school staged a fundraising event in Manhattan. The American Friends of Eton gala dinner, which included the auctioning of a lunch with Eton old boy and Homeland actor Damian Lewis, raised $200,000 (£260,010).

Is Eton really the best place to find a Prime Minister?

In the days of Robert Walpole, Eton and the other leading public schools didn’t have to concern themselves with justifying their charitable status. The whole purpose of elite schools like Eton and Harrow was that they only educated privileged children because disadvantaged families were effectively barred from the top jobs in British society.

Walpole’s reign was largely achieved through the corruption of members of parliament for which he was called the screen-master general. Like Johnson, he came to office when the country was gripped by a national crisis. The South Sea Bubble had burst, sucking in thousands of speculators and causing a financial crash. Walpole skilfully managed the crisis and went on to serve as prime minister for 21 years.

Three hundred years later Boris Johnson’s in-tray is no less daunting. But in a 21st century liberal democracy his appointment begs the question: is another Old Etonian the best person for the job?

Robert Verkaik is the author of ‘Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin Britain’ (£10.99, Oneworld)