Much has been made of the fact that Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom are both products of the grammar school system (though May’s school in fact became a comprehensive when she was 15 years old).
Both went on to university, but their choices were very different.
May went to St Hugh’s College, Oxford, between 1974 and 1977. Founded in 1886, it was an all-women establishment until 1986.
She read Geography – not a subject traditionally associated with academic prowess.
Leadsom went to Warwick University, founded in 1965. She was a student there between 1981 and 1984.
Fellow students included Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of the now-defunct charity Kids’ Company, though there is no evidence Leadsom and Batmanghelidjh knew each other.
Perhaps more appropriately for a would-be prime minister, Leadsom read Politics.
So – what did degree did each woman get?
When Heat Street asked, Leadsom’s spokesman responded immediately to reveal that she achieved a 2.2.
Surprisingly, May’s grade has never been published before. Her spokesman told us she secured a Second. In those days, Oxford did not grade its degrees beyond First, Second or Third (and, rarely, Fourth).
If Leadsom becomes Tory leader, she will be the first in recent memory of those who went to university not to have attended Oxbridge.
Were May to become leader, she would be following in the footsteps of Cameron, Hague, Howard and Thatcher, none of whom studied Geography, but all of whom attended Oxbridge.
Here are the university qualifications of the last six Tory leaders:
David Cameron – took a First in Politics, Philosophy, Economics from Brasenose College, Oxford
Michael Howard – took a 2.2 in Law from Peterhouse, Cambridge
Iain Duncan Smith – did not attend university
William Hague – took a First in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Magdalen College, Oxford
John Major – did not attend university
Margaret Thatcher – Second Class Honours degree in Chemistry from Somerville College, Oxford
