The chattering classes is a generally erogatory term often used by conservative propagandists and political commentators to refer to a politically active, socially concerned and highly educated elite section of the "metropolitan middle class", especially those with political, media, and academic connections. It is sometimes used only to refer to persons with alleged leftist leanings, but its initial use by British right wing polemicist Frank Johnson, appeared to include a wider range of pundits. Indeed, the term is used by people all across the political spectrum to refer to the journalists and political operatives who see themselves as the arbiters of conventional wisdom.