Elitism.

Why do the left attack this as a concept? It simply refers to 'the best' and pursuit thereof.

Naive, innit?

It is philosophically divorced from the 'patronage and privilege' which the left assume must always be present.
Merit to them is an irrelevance - hence their virtual abolition of the grammar schools which was the single most destructive act ever perpetrated on the working class by the middle class left.