I noted in a bearcast a while ago that Charlotte Hogg, the - for now - deputy Governor of the Bank of England - was an Oxford contemporary. Two years my junior her first year room was two doors away from my third year room. We did not mix. She was clever but, by a long chalk, not the smartest person of her year but with a grandfather like Lord Hailsham, a daddy in the cabinet and mummy in the House of Lords... well some folks are more equal than others are they not?.
It now appears that she has broken a rule in a rule book she wrote on declaring conflicts of interest. She appears to have lied to MP's. And she may have to stand down. It seems a bit harsh on her for it was, in reality, a minor transgression and she does not seem to have meant to do any real harm. But if she is forced to quit in disgrace she need fear not as the establishment always looks after its own.
You may remember that her father Douglas claimed expenses for cleaning the Moat at the family home and a number of other things that were not allowed. So he paid back the cash and, hey presto, a few years later he was made a member of the House of Lords. So what if he stole taxpayers cash to feather his own grubby and already well feathered bed? Jail time and disgrace are for folks who scam far less from the benefits system. It is one rule for the peasants and one for the establishment.
If poor Charlotte is forced to stand down in disgrace or if it is decided that rules only apply to the little people and her glittering career, based entirely on merit, is not effected, it is a racing certainty, either way, that like Grandpa, mater & pater she too will end up in the House of Lords. For that is the way this country works.