PARLIAMENT will be packed with even more of David Cameron’s posh pals after May, according to a new exposé of privilege that shows almost half of Tory candidates were privately educated.

A massive 52 per cent of current Tory MPs — including the Eton-educated Prime Minister — came into politics after receiving expensive private schooling.

And a new Sutton Trust dossier discloses how the Bullingdon Club boy is set to be joined by dozens more Tory toffs at the general election.

It reveals that 49 per cent of right-wingers standing for the self-proclaimed “party of opportunity” went to private school.

Despite just 7 per cent of the population attending private schools, experts from the education charity said “the chances of being in a position to be elected to government are much higher for those fortunate enough to attend a fee-paying school.”

Labour MP Ian Lavery told the Star: “We have a privilege problem.

“This report shows clearly how those who are privileged enough to attain private schooling are more likely to gain access to the corridors of power.”

A Tory spokesman claimed yesterday that the party’s candidates are “picked on merit,” insisting the party has “a diverse and excellent range of candidates drawn from all walks of life.”

“Attacking people for the school their parents chose to send them to is the politics of the gutter,” he added.

But Mr Lavery, who was elected for the first time in 2010, warned that Britain’s class barriers stop bright working-class kids from following his journey from pit to Parliament.

The MP started his career as a National Coal Board apprentice and became involved in politics during the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

And he said: “We have a lack of representation of disabled people, ethnic minorities and people who have actually done a hard day’s graft.

“I don’t want to attack posh boys and girls — if they went to private schools that was probably a decision made by their parents by virtue of the fact they could afford it.
“But I want us to make sure that everybody gets an equal opportunity to fulfil their aspirations.”

The number of Tories who are first-time candidates after walking the cloisters of Britain’s elite universities also far exceeds the proportion in the population.

Twenty-eight per cent of prospective Tory MPs studied at Oxford or Cambridge, compared to just 1 per cent of the population.

Another 68 per cent of candidates attended other red-brick institutions.

The Sutton Trust’s research also throws up uncomfortable questions for Labour about working-class representation.

The number of privately educated candidates standing for Ed Miliband’s party is also above the national average at 19 per cent.

And while 62 per cent of the public do not have a degree, just 5 per cent of candidates selected by Labour do not have honours.

Class think tank chair Steve Hart pressed Labour to take more “positive action” by giving working-class candidates training and campaign resources.

He said: “Policies which address inequality and improve living standards are much more likely to be prioritised by MPs who have personal experience of those issues.

“That’s why representation is so important.”

lukejames@peoples-press.com