GUEST COMMENT: I have been discriminated against on the grounds of my Liverpudlian accent

I’ve lived in London for more than twenty years, but – I will freely admit – I come from Liverpool. Having spent my childhood beyond the fronds of the Home Counties, I have a bit of an accent: not a big one, but enough to identify me as a definite Liverpudlian.

Over the course of my career, this has caused occasional issues. Whilst still at Oxford, I interned at one of the rarefied British stockbroking houses where everyone appeared to be simultaneously supping from silver spoons and sucking on plums. I didn’t get an offer: I didn’t fit in.

Thereafter, I got a role as an analyst with a mid-sized bank in the City. I acquitted myself more than adequately but when the time came to move, recruitment consultants started talking down to me. Presuming me to be state-educated (which I unashamedly am) one asked me rudely which state school I’d attended in Liverpool. Other public-school educated southerners, having discerned my place of origin, have said things like, “watch your wallet”. Yes, very funny: ha.

Most interestingly, I have noticed a lack of camaraderie amongst us Liverpudlians in the City. Childhood friends who’ve made the same journey southwards have done their best to drop their accents at the earliest possible opportunity and to disassociate themselves from anyone who knows their origins.

Usually, none of this bothers me too much. Recently, however, I’ve been contemplating elocution lessons. Should this really be necessary? It’s against the law to discriminate on the grounds of race. Surely it should be illegal to discriminate on the grounds of home town and accent too?

The author is a Liverpudlian at large in the City.