>> "Who, by your test, does have such great insight, prior to great office?"
>>
>> Very few major politicians.
Pretty much inevitable I think. In most circumstances if you're going to be PM you've got to be in Cabinet (or Shadowing) by the time you're 40. That implies being elected to Westminster not much later than early thirties. If you graduate at 21/22 and are 'apprenticed' to a profession e.g. as a lawyer, management consultant or whatever the you're 25+ before being fully qualified. Being a Westminster candidate usually requires some commitment to local government politics first too. Realisitally you're probably engaged with politics throughout Uni too.
Even if one regards the professions as 'real life', and for many the cloistered world of the Inns of Court or a youthful partnership in McKinsey are not, then there's not much time to be a common man. See ACL Blair for example.
One argument against my enthusiasm for Keir Starmer as Labour leader will be his age and fact that he only entered Parliament after his legal career. Same would go for say Sarah Wollaston on the Tory side.
The World Wars varied things a bit and a generation of politicians from Attlee through to Heath, Callaghan, Jenkins and of course Healey as last survivor saw the real world under fire.
Thatcher, for all her faults had two careers - the Bar and Industrial Chemistry - as well as 'housewife'. John Major seemed to get quite a bit done before being elected too.
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