The headteacher of Stowe School has claimed criticisms of private schools and the elite “echo the conspiratorial language” of antisemitism.

Anthony Wallersteiner, of £12,000-a-term Stowe School, also said the drop in the number of non-state school Oxbridge admissions had left some parents making claims about “social engineering”.

Dr Wallersteiner, who is of Jewish descent, said: “Some of the criticisms echo the conspiratorial language of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

“It was relatively easy for Hitler and his henchmen to suggest that the Jewish minority was over-represented in key professions: medicine, law, teaching and the creative industries.

“Privately-educated pupils in the UK are also being accused of dominating the top jobs and stifling social mobility … It is all too facile to stereotype groups and ignore the fact that lawyers, doctors, writers and politicians are individuals.”

Veteran Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge branded his comments as “insulting and outrageous”.

She told the Press Association: “It’s insulting to all the young people who have secured places at Oxford and Cambridge on the basis of hard work and potential.

“And it’s insulting to the victims of antisemitism to compare the two.”

Mike Katz, National Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement tweeted: “Utterly, horrendously wrong to use the Protocols and Hitler’s demonisation of the Jews as a comparison for Oxbridge intake trends. Shouldn’t ever have to point that out. Small wonder Holocaust denial and revisionism (from both left & right) is on the rise.”

Dr Wallersteiner told The Times that many parents have been making claims about positive discrimination and their children being edged out of Oxbridge.

He said there has been a “much more concerted effort” by admissions tutors at Oxford and Cambridge to reduce the number of places awarded to independent schools and “redress the balance and put in contextual details”.

He added that “the rise of populists and polemicists has created a micro-industry in bashing private schools”.

“It was relatively easy for Hitler and his henchmen to suggest that the Jewish minority was over-represented in key professions: medicine, law, teaching and the creative industries.

“Privately-educated pupils in the UK are also being accused of dominating the top jobs and stifling social mobility … It is all too facile to stereotype groups and ignore the fact that lawyers, doctors, writers and politicians are individuals.”