Parents should be free to help their children find work, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg indicated as a nepotism row overshadowed the launch of a new Government initiative to open up access to jobs.
Mr Clegg’s new social mobility tsar James Caan faced accusations of hypocrisy for employing his two daughters, despite arguing that parents should not give children a helping hand but first allow them to attempt to carve out their own careers.
The Deputy Prime Minister said it was not for politicians to tell mothers and fathers what to do but he added that people should not be “sanctimonious” and the Government was not attempting to deny “parental instinct”.
Dragons’ Den judge Mr Caan insisted his daughters Jemma and Hanah were employed through a “normal process” of recruitment and were qualified for the jobs they were given.
Mr Clegg whose financier father helped set up an internship for him at a Finnish bank at the start of his career said it was natural for parents to want to help their children, but he insisted the Government was taking action to support youngsters who do not have the same opportunities.
“I am a parent, I want to do the best for my child, every parent does,” he said. “I don’t want us to deny parental instinct.
“You shouldn’t be sanctimonious about this. All I’m saying is governments, businesses, those who can open doors to youngsters who don’t have the luck and good fortune of having supportive parents and families, I think should do so.
“Not only because it’s good for youngsters but it’s good for them as well it’s good for governments, good for business, it makes sense all round.”
The Deputy Prime Minister added: “I don’t think it’s actually for politicians to tell parents what to do in helping their own children. Every parent wants to do the best by their own sons and daughters.
“This is about giving people who perhaps don’t have the contacts, don’t have the support, opportunity to find places where they can work, where they can live out their dreams, where doors can be opened for them.”
Mr Clegg acknowledged he was “very lucky” but added: “I don’t think it should be about luck.
“It should be about those people who don’t have that luck, how do we make sure that doors open to them, how do we make sure that opportunities are provided to them so that everybody, regardless of their background, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, are able to live out their dreams, fulfill their potential, as long as they are prepared to work hard and put in the hours?”
Mr Caan appeared alongside Mr Clegg to promote the Opening Doors campaign. More than 150 major organisations in the UK have committed to offering fair and open access to their jobs and professions for young people, regardless of background.
Mr Caan suggested in interviews this week that parents should allow offspring to establish careers by themselves rather than helping them.
He has defended the decision to employ his daughters and rejected suggestions that he was the wrong person to be the social mobility tsar.