The elite school background just adds a special extra layer of entitlement and delusion, but I think it's to some extent a natural state for certain people with certain personality types who find themselves in managerial positions, and they're by no means limited to Britain.  The likelihood of dealing with them seems to increase exponentially as one works closer to any kind of political power.

Shit, I worked for people like that for years until I got so tired of banging my head against the wall that I took a large pay cut to get the hell out, and they were all middle-class people who went to generic state universities.  But yeah, swap them for a bunch of Yale/Harvard/Duke/whatever dipshits, and you get all the awfulness but insulated with the cultural reverence for "elite" education.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.