Luke Charters told GB News he had been forced to water down his accent because of the mockery it attracted
A state-school educated Labour MP from the north of England has told how he was mocked by tutors at Oxford university and even asked if he was drinking a mug of gravy by other students because of his broad Yorkshire accent.
Luke Charters, who had a successful career at the Bank of England before entering Parliament in 2024 as MP for York Outer, said he had been forced to water down his accent at Mansfield College because of the mockery it attracted.
He told GB News' Chopper's Political Podcast: "I am a state school kid and I'm proud I went to Oxford.
"But when I got there, I found that there was may be one or two tutors older in mindset that mocked me for how I spoke.
"And you can tell if you're listening in, I've got quite a broad northern accent, and I'm proud of it.
"I've never really admitted this before... I watered it down when I was at uni.
Mr Charters said some of the "mockery and banter" related to gravy.
Mr Charters said he was told to water down his strong Yorkshire accent if he wanted to get a good graduate job.
He added: "It would be things like 'if you ever want to do a good interview and get a graduate job, you might want to tone down your accent.
"You want to go and do a master's and you're going to be interviewed, tone it down.
Mr Charters paid tribute to GB News for featuring people with accents from across the UK.
"And I think you do a good job on GB News of actually getting people on that sound a bit different.
