Shaun Bailey lost job as adviser on youth, crime and race after exclusion by PM's privately educated colleagues, say friends
The prime minister's only black working-class adviser has been pushed out of 10 Downing Street following the promotion of Old Etonians and other former public school boys, his friends have claimed.
Shaun Bailey lost his job as a special adviser earlier this year and was moved to a part-time role in the Cabinet Office, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. Bailey felt he was excluded by Cameron's advisers because he was "different" and asked demanding questions about what the government was doing. After four months of being excluded by Cameron's other advisers he was moved to what he saw as a "non-job" in the Cabinet Office.
On Saturday Bailey tweeted that he did not criticise the prime minister for the way he was treated: "Regarding the Telegraph article I want to be clear I have no problem with the PM. He has always supported me."
Bailey told his friends that the PM's advisers had no interest in concerns about the cost of living or diversity and were heavily conditioned by a public school mindset.
Cameron has been accused of running an old boys' network at No 10 after he recently promoted several Old Etonians including Jo Johnson, the brother of the London mayor Boris Johnson, and Jesse Norman.
The prime minister was also educated at Eton, as was Ed Llewellyn, his chief of staff, Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister, and Sir George Young, the chief whip.
Bailey was paid a salary of £60,000 to advise the prime minister on youth, crime and race after the 2010 general election but in January he was moved to the Cabinet Office, and renamed "youth and engagement champion" with a one-year contract and £36,000 salary.
Cameron has rejected criticism that he only appoints public school educated people to senior jobs, stressing that William Hague, the foreign secretary, and Patrick McLoughlin, the transport secretary, were educated at comprehensive schools. Sam Gyimah, Cameron's parliamentary private secretary, was also educated at a state school before joining attending Oxford University and working at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "Shaun was a highly valued member of the No 10 team, and he is continuing that good work at the Cabinet Office."