CORRESPONDENT AJ Cummings (HAS, Jan 14) should look a little closer at his beloved Labour Party before he criticises David Cameron’s privileged background (HAS, Jan 14).

Naming just a few: Charles Clarke, son of Sir Richard Clarke; Harriet Harman, daughter of a Harley Street physician; Ed Balls, son of a former academic now with a lucrative position in the EU; and Hilary Benn, son of Tony Benn, formerly Viscount Stansgate.

Maybe Mr Cummings can tell us how they can represent his views, or if they have even heard of Peterlee.

Ironically, he derides Margaret Thatcher, daughter of a grocer with just two shops, who went to a local primary school before going to a grammar school and lived in a flat over the shop.

If only personal experience was the guide to a profession we should have only adults from a deprived background to be social workers and so on. David Cameron is right – commitment to any job is the real key to success, not the bed you were born in.

Mrs Shelagh Harnby, Stockton.