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Clegg & Cameron Clash On Internships

24 Apr 2011

Clegg & Cameron Clash On Internships As we told you in our jobs news article at the beginning of the month, Nick Clegg said he wanted everyone to have a fair chance at landing a place on an internship.

At that time Mr Clegg railed against the practice of offering internships on the basis of who you know rather than what you know. Such awarding of work placements to ‘sharp-elbowed’ and ‘well-connected’ candidates was a barrier to social mobility claimed the Deputy Prime Minister.

Now, however, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has appeared to condemn the earlier comments of Mr Clegg by stating that it he is ‘very relaxed’ about the idea of offer internships to the children of friends and colleagues.

Mr Cameron went on to say that in his own dealings he would continue to help people climb the careers ladder in life. Indeed, he gave details of how he has recently helped a neighbour’s son to secure an internship.

Downing Street has attempted to play down the seemingly-contradictory view points of the two men at the top of the coalition government but Mr Clegg is standing his ground. “I'm not relaxed about this at all. It just can't be right that plum internships are decided by who you know, not what you know,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Both Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron are said to have received very valuable from family and friends at the beginning of their careers.

Please don’t be afraid to share this article with your friends, family, neighbours - and any other sharp-elbowed connections you may have - using the social networks below. And give yourself a fair chance of landing a work placement now from our Internship search page.

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