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The system is unfair and open to abuse, and gives posh young dogsbodies far too much influence
The internship system is a murky pool of privilege and influence. Over the last week, since the government's social mobility strategy dragged the issue into the news, we have heard a great deal about the advantages of doing an internship in government, media or finance for those lucky youngsters who can afford a shortcut into top jobs. But we have heard rather less about the effect that unpaid interns can have on employers.
The problem is twofold. It's not just the thousands of pounds of free labour that graduates offer, meaning that many worthy liberal organisations now find themselves in the awkward position of financial dependence on a practice that skews the job market in favour of the children of the wealthy. It's also the interns themselves, and the influence they can have on the daily workings of the British political machine.
Interns shape the atmosphere of an office. The director of a thinktank, canvassing opinions for his latest report, might ask the young man making coffee what he and his friends think about taxation. A magazine editor, looking for features that tap into the zeitgeist, might ask the girl doing the photocopying what the kids are excited about these days. I should know: I've been an intern. As one of the thousands of posh dogsbodies propping up the liberal establishment, I was often asked what young people were thinking on any given issue, as if I, with my Oxford degree and nice rounded vowels, somehow represented everyone under 35.
The only young people decision-makers now meet on a daily basis come from privileged backgrounds. They are often the sons and daughters of colleagues, who will not be affected, for instance, by cuts to benefits that enable poor teenagers to complete their A-levels. That's not all, however.
Lobbying groups can also manipulate the internship system for their own ends. A worrying example is the fundamentalist Christian group dedicated to ending legal abortion in the UK that is giving tens of thousands of pounds worth of interns to MPs.
For several years Christian Action, Research and Education, a lobbying group whose mission is to "bring Christian insight and experience to matters of public policy", has poured money into providing MPs with free researchers. It spent more than £60,000 in 2008-9 alone, providing 11 MPs with interns when anti-abortion amendments were passing through the Commons. Every one of the Conservative MPs who was provided with a free researcher by Care voted to restrict access to abortion. This year, with fresh anti-abortion proposals being pushed through parliament, four MPs currently have interns sponsored by the Christian group. These interns have Commons passes and access to parliament at the highest levels.
As a charity, Care has a legal duty not to "give support or funding to a political party, candidate or politician", and inquiries have been made by the Charity Commission and in parliament. No clear decision has yet been made, however, as to the ethical position of lobbying groups who sponsor politicians by proxy, paying interns to pick up their dry cleaning. Care is unlikely to be the only organisation paying to place young people with approved views in influential parliamentary roles.
Of course, the principle of paying for internships was endorsed by the Conservative party itself. At the party's annual fundraising ball, wealthy donors made bids for coveted placements with City banks and law firms, forking out thousands for their own children to slide painlessly into positions of power.
It underlines that the internship system is both unfair and open to abuse by vested interests. Ending unpaid internships would be a good start: but the trail of money and influence runs deep.