He traces some of that ambition back to university and the philosophy part of his PPE course.
Though he envisions a society in which inequalities are reduced and in which a decent minimum standard of living is available to all (PPE IV.vi.2), he does defend the profits of capitalists as a just recompense for their savings, risk, and economic supervision (PPE II.xv.1; "Chapters on Socialism" 734 35).
He also thinks regulation of working conditions (hours, wages, and benefits) is permissible, because the provision of improved working conditions typically has the structure of a public or collective good for workers, each of whom stands to gain a competitive advantage by conceding a little more to capital than his peers (PPE V.xi.12).
He also thinks that there are other goods for which market provision will lead to underproduction, presumably because of positive externalities, which is why he thinks that the state should subsidize scientific research and the arts (PPE V.xi.15).
He also defends equal rights to education (315 16), to professional opportunities (299; cf. PPE IV.vii.3), to vote in political elections (301), and to run for political office (301).
He emphatically rejects the idea that legitimate government is limited to the functions of affording protection against force and fraud (PPE V.i.2).
Politics for him must seem at times like an extended PPE seminar: elevated talk about political economy and the good society".
Hester may be a former student chair of the (moderate) Tory Reform Group with the usual 1st in PPE from Oxford, but he can't ("I'm not a politician") answer questions like that.
Johnson studied PPE at Oxford University between 1985 and 1988, when his tutorial partner at Keble College was Balls.
Education: Haverstock Comprehensive, PPE undergraduate at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, economics master's at London School of Economics.
Education: Eton College, PPE undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford University.
