So, a black applicant can take the “open” route like everyone else, or take the restricted route and receive £5,000 that no non-black applicant doing an equivalent internship is able to access. It makes no sense to me to claim that a black student educated at Eton is just as disadvantaged as a white student who lives in poverty in an extremely deprived area, let alone to argue that the former deserves an extra £5,000.

In fact, in banking as a whole, as well as the accountancy and consultancy sectors, there are dozens of placements open only to non-white people. The Big Four professional services networks – PwC, KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte – for example, have schemes open to candidates of all skin colours, but they also run schemes specifically for those with a black, Asian or other ethnic minority background. (In the case of Deloitte, their scheme is also open to “allies who recognise the under-representation of diverse backgrounds”.)

These companies also work with the 10,000 Black Interns scheme (also known as 10KBI), run by the 10,000 Interns Foundation, a charity which works to place a pool of black and black-heritage students and recent graduates into paid internships. Sophie Corcoran, a freelance journalist, has filed a race-discrimination claim under the Equality Act against the Bar Council and the 10,000 Interns Foundation, alleging that a programme co-run by the two organisations discriminates against her as a white person and restricts her career opportunities. The claim is contested and undecided, and both organisations deny it.

Elsewhere in the public sector, Sadiq Khan’s Greater London Authority offers funding of up to £70,000 to schemes, such as 10KBI, aimed at supporting black or minority-ethnic individuals, and the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences, funds a four-year research fellowship open only to black-heritage scientists. Similar black-only PhD funding exists at most top universities.

While I did find some outreach schemes or internships that I could apply for when the time comes, over and over again I found the ones which suited me best excluded me on the grounds of my skin colour. I couldn’t understand it. Disadvantage is disadvantage and anyone from a low socioeconomic background deserves support, not just those with certain skin colours or characteristics.

The increasing number of programmes aimed at non-white applicants across many employers has effectively created a two-tier system when it comes to employment – BAME applicants can apply for BAME programmes as well as “open” programmes, while white candidates are left with only the one option. I am also concerned that white, working-class males like me, applying for “open” schemes, will be disadvantaged within these as well thanks to so-called “positive action provisions” in the Equality Act, which let an employer prefer an equally qualified candidate from an under-represented group.

Ethnic-minority applicants, by contrast, have access on every level: they can apply to the open schemes and they can access the ring-fenced black and ethnic-minority programmes, where they compete only against one another. The result is systematic exclusion and disadvantage for white, working-class students.

A recent harrowing report from the Sutton Trust highlights the enormous attainment and progression gaps between white students on free school meals compared to their peers. Where is the moral outrage? Where is the support? Where is the funding and outreach? Nowhere. Nothing is being done to help them, and the system continues to work overtime against them.

I should be clear: I’m not against the idea of diversity and inclusion itself. Encouraging women into spaces they were historically excluded from is Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) working as it should – addressing a genuine deficit in society – and I support it without reservation.