This was obviously a very carefully managed profile in which Dave and his team pulled out every stop to make him seem human and "normal". But the elephant in the room was Dave's social provenance, his membership of a class that has been largely excluded from participation in national politics since Alec Douglas Home was kicked out in 1964. Everything about Dave's life, from the artwork hanging on the wall of his Notting Hill sitting room, to his obvious discomfort when talking about anything he's expected to be emotional about, screams "upper middle class".
Whenever journalists like me raise this issue we're always accused of being "chippy" on account of the fact that we didn't go to Eton -- and I'm sure there's a lot of truth in that. Until now, Dave's poshness has largely remained below the radar; he's skilfully managed to prevent it from becoming a hot-button issue in the campaign. Journalists are obsessed with his privileged background, but the public, God bless ’em, don't see too bothered about the fact that he was a member of the Bullingdon or sounds like Prince Charles's slightly more worldly younger brother. (To read more, click here.)
