Reeves: Oxford college roasted my grammar so I went elsewhere

RACHEL REEVES has said she didn’t apply to one of Oxford University’s most prestigious colleges because they corrected her grammar on the phone.

The shadow chancellor, 43, was a pupil in Bromley, south-east London, when she plucked up the courage to call Christ Church about applying to the university. Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, she said that when she called and said: “Me and a friend would like to come to your open day”, she was corrected by an “admissions lady” who said “emphatically” that she should have said: “My friend and I.”

Ms Reeves said: “Did she not know how difficult it had been to make that phone call? I had nobody else to make that call for me, please try and make me feel like I might be welcome there! So anyway I didn’t apply to Christ Church, I applied for New College because they didn’t correct my grammar on the phone.”

Ms Reeves, who is the daughter of two teachers, was educated at Cator Park School for Girls, a state school in Bromley, where she said “going to university wasn’t normal”. She was accepted to study philosophy, politics and economics at New College.

A spokesperson for Christ Church said: “Christ Church is fully committed to building an environment that is inclusive and welcoming to all students and staff, as well as to increasing access to the university and the College for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-represented groups.”