Bullingdon Club

Content Provider: Selected Short Prose Pieces, 2011–2016
by Stewart Lee
Published 1 Aug 2016

Directives from Westminster seem more irrelevant to we Scots than ever, now that the Cabinet is essentially an elitist cabal run by former members of the exclusive, window-smashing dining society, the Bullingdon Club. And none of them is Scottish either, apart from the bad-news patsy Danny Alexander and the eel-faced Trot fantasist and yacht fancier Michael Gove, who is adopted anyway, and could have ended up being raised anywhere in the UK, and so cannot make any especial claims for being anything but an orphan with a grudge. But what the Scots must understand is that the Bullingdon Club Cabinet has as little in common with the average English person as it does with the average Scot. If 5.5 million largely non-Conservative-voting Scots sever their links with us, there are 5.5 million fewer of us to say no to Bullingdon Club rule.

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Contents Title Page Dedication Introduction Stewart Lee’s insider’s take on William and Kate My perfect pub The National Trust doesn’t even trust us to have our own thoughts If Damon Albarn is serious about the occult, shouldn’t we call him Damien? What a tragic wasted opportunity to present a true portrait of the Iron Lady Shame on you, Alex Salmond, for selling us out to the Bullingdon Club I was getting on so well with Gillian Welch. Then David Cameron butts in How I was busted by the O—— Advertisement Enforcement Office Movements afoot to return Tony Blair to Labour’s seat of power? This truly was an event that regenerated a community, but what of its legacy? Brooks and Cameron’s texts?

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Only two Tory generations ago, the prime minister Margaret Thatcher was proud to proclaim herself “a grocer’s daughter”. A mere twenty years since she passed power on to John Major, a garden-gnome salesman with six O-levels, it is impossible to imagine either in government today, composed, as it is, principally of former members of the elite Oxford vomiting society the Bullingdon Club. The state-schools system is stretched to the limit; the withdrawal of further education grants deters poorer students; and government contributions to the Bookstart scheme, which gives books to children who might otherwise have none, have been halved. It is not possible to imagine a Thatcher ever getting out of Lincolnshire today, let alone becoming prime minister.

Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin Britain
by Robert Verkaik
Published 14 Apr 2018

1 Greg Hurst, The Times, 1 September 2016. 2 http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/96686.htm 3 http://everyday-saints.com/13.htm 4 The Times, 1 September 2016. 5 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/8757576/David-Cameron-tells-Russian-hosts-KGB-tried-to-recruit-me-but-I-failed-the-test.html 6 @MichaelLCrick, Twitter, 7 September 2107. 7 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/04/panama-papers-david-cameron-father-tax-bahamas 8 The Times obituary, 9 December 1930. 9 Francis Elliott and James Hanning, Cameron: Practically a Conservative (London: Fourth Estate, 2012), p. 369. 10 Michael Ashcroft and Isobel Oakeshott, Call Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography (London: Biteback Publishing, 2015), p. 17. 11 Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 17. 12 http://www.financemagnates.com/executives/moves/exclusive-broctagon-solutions-onboards-peter-romilly-as-chief-operating-officer/ 13 https://relationshipscience.com/edward-g-mallinckrodt-p3617968 14 https://www.1843magazine.com/features/eton-and-the-making-of-a-modern-elite 15 Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 32. 16 http://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/235077/A-very-exclusive-club-called-pop 17 Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 37; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1542289/Cameron-the-bad-boy-of-Eton-who-wouldnt-split-on-druggy-friend.htm 18 http://d56ddea33f0f1bf171c7-0d3b9304851da04b7a689f475e7e240f.r47.cf2.rackcdn.com/850215%20Eton%20College%20Chronicle%20iv%20THCR%201-3-15%20f85.pdf 19 Evening Standard, 7 April 2008. 20 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572544/Files-Britain-NOT-support-military-action-against-Russia.html 21 www.etoncollege.com/TheOEA.aspx 22 https://development.mtsn.org.uk/city-network---september-2016 23 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/sep/02/bullingdon-club-david-cameron-riots 24 Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 73. 25 Mail on Sunday, 18 March 2007; Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 79. 26 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10377728/Clubland-were-all-members-now.html 27 Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 80. 28 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/sep/02/bullingdon-club-david-cameron-riots; Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 111. 29 Ashcroft and Oakeshott, p. 198. 30 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3461103/The-torture-watching-husband-choose-beliefs-old-friend-PM-Daily-Mail-columnist-SARAH-VINE-s-intensely-personal-account-momentous-decision.html 31 Michael Green was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, in Elstree, Hertfordshire on a scholarship and left, aged seventeen, with four O-levels.

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I said that what we wanted to do at Eton was to produce men who would hold independent views and be prepared to stick up for them, not men who would take an “Etonian” line.’10 Seven years later, another Conservative administration suffered a similar fate in 1963 when a privately educated politician lied to parliament about his personal life. John Profumo (Harrow), a leading member of Oxford University’s exclusive Bullingdon Club, enjoyed an active sex life outside his marriage. One of his lovers was the model Christine Keeler, who had also begun an affair with a Russian naval attaché. At the time, Profumo was secretary of state for war and the potential threat to national security was obvious. When Profumo was confronted about the allegations in parliament he denied the story.

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Cameron showed little interest in politics at Oxford but he did throw himself into the traditional public displays of privilege, joining the Bullingdon and Piers Gaveston clubs whose memberships are exclusively taken from the public schools, especially Eton. The rituals, which include smashing up restaurants and running riot through the city streets, are largely based on the behaviour of the pupil-run societies that dominated the ungoverned public schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today, it is said that a prospective Bullingdon Club member must burn a fifty pound note in front of a homeless person. Hooliganism and vandalism are part of the club’s raison d’être. In 1894, after dinner, Bullingdon members smashed the lights and 468 windows in Peckwater Quad of Christ Church, along with the blinds and doors of the building.

Rule Britannia: Brexit and the End of Empire
by Danny Dorling and Sally Tomlinson
Published 15 Jan 2019

, The Conversation, 29 November, http://theconversation.com/life-expectancy-in-britain-has-fallen-so-much-that-a-million-years-of-life-could-disappear-by-2058-why-88063 8 BBC (2018) ‘The English question: Young are less proud to be English’, BBC News, 3 June, poll carried out across England, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-44142843 9 BBC (2018) ibid. 10 This poem by Rudyard Kipling was originally written for the Diamond Jubilee celebration of Queen Victoria, but was rewritten to support American colonisation. 11 Jacobson, D. (2007) ‘Kipling in South Africa’, London Review of Books, Vol. 29, No. 11, 7 June, https://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n11/dan-jacobson/kipling-in-south-africa 12 Linstrum, E. (2017) ‘The empire dreamt back: To help rule its empire, Britain turned to psychoanalysis. But they weren’t willing to hear the truth it told’, Aeon magazine, 4 December, https://aeon.co/essays/britains-imperial-dream-catchers-and-the-truths-of-empire 13 James, M. (2014) ‘Cecil Rhodes and the Bullingdon Club’, Rhodes Bishop’s Stortford Museum News, 15 April, http://www.rhodesbishopsstortford.org.uk/museum-news/cecil-rhodes-and-the-bullingdon-club/ 14 Brendon, P. (2007) The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781–1997, London: Vintage. 15 Gilbert, M. (1997) A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume One, 1900–1933, New York: William Morrow and Company, p. 11. 16 Hughes, G. (2010) ‘South Africa and the British concentration camps’, 16 June, https://christhum.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/south-africa-and-the-british-concentration-camps/ 17 Moran, C. (2012) Moranthology, London: HarperCollins, in which David Cameron is said to resemble a slightly camp gammon robot, a C3PO made of ham. 18 John Bull locking the door to immigrants.

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While the British Empire is long gone, we are still living through its legacy today. Without a clear understanding of what the Empire was about, we cannot properly understand ourselves today. So, let’s take a little time to remember Cecil Rhodes with more honesty than most do. After spending only one term at Oriel College in Oxford, where he enlisted in the Bullingdon Club,13 Rhodes, aged twenty, joined the white man’s rush to exploit gold and diamonds. He acquired the huge open-cast mine at Kimberley. There, he would apparently spend hours gazing into the pit where ‘thousands of naked Africans filled one-ton iron ore buckets with blue earth’.14 These were the ‘new-caught, sullen peoples, half devil and half child’ as described in Kipling’s poem.

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His wife’s worth, like his, had come from property bought with monies they inherited from wealthy parents, who in turn had benefited from relatives, who had, for example, made great gains from slavery within the British Empire.60 In 2012, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the property holdings of the Cameron family meant that ‘the analysis also forecast that the combined wealth of Mr and Mrs Cameron was likely to rise sharply in coming years because they would inherit an estimated £25.3 million’. David was educated at Heatherdown, a private preparatory school where Prince Andrew (the Duke of York) and Prince Edward (the Earl of Wessex) were also pupils. From there, David went to Eton and then on to Brasenose College, Oxford. There, he studied PPE, but also belonged to the Bullingdon Club (Figure 7.2), which was supposedly founded as a sporting club for wealthy men in 1780. The club is now known for ostentatious spending, boisterous rituals and trashing restaurants – getting away with it by paying off the owners not to involve the police. Lord Ashcroft (of whom more later) co-wrote a book repeating rumours that David reportedly placed a portion of his anatomy in a dead pig’s head on one particularly rumbustious evening at the equally notorious Piers Gaveston dining society.

No Such Thing as Society
by Andy McSmith
Published 19 Nov 2010

Their tailcoats alone cost £1,000 at 1984 prices, and their alcohol-fuelled dinners at Oxford’s finest restaurants cost about £400 a time.38 Dinner of en ended with high jinks, in which these privileged kids displayed their indifference to law and order. Cameron went to bed early on the night that the police were called after members of the Bullingdon Club had thrown a pot plant through the plate-glass window of a restaurant, so was not involved. Johnson ran from the scene fast enough to avoid arrest.39 After the old Bullingdon Club photograph was uncovered, the local firm that owned the copyright withdrew permission for it to be used again, which did not stop it being pirated across the internet and in leaf ets distributed during the 2010 election.

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The pictures captured the attention of Tina Brown, editor of Tatler, and inspired waves of students to ape this behaviour. Jones said in a recent interview: ‘I had access to what felt like a secret world. There was a change going on. Someone described it as a “last hurrah” of the upper classes.’34 One of the stars of this new firmament was Darius Guppy, an old Etonian who helped revive the Bullingdon Club, whose antics had been recounted in Waugh’s novels. Guppy later went to jail for fraud. Another was Count Gottfried von Bismarck, a descendant of Prussia’s Iron Chancellor, who liked to dress up in lederhosen or in women’s clothes, lipstick and fishnet stockings. An Oxford contemporary, Toby Young, recalled: It was as though Oxford – and no doubt the same was true of Cambridge – was a stage and people like Gottfried von Bismarck and Darius Guppy were the theatrical stars we had all come to see.

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Her grandfather, Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, her grandmother Honor Guinness and her father had each in turn been Tory MP for Southend West; Paul Channon had been promoted into Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet as secretary of state for trade and industry just two months before losing his daughter. Years later, two journalists researching the life of David Cameron came upon a photograph of the members of the Bullingdon Club, which Cameron had joined, for the academic year 1986–7. The photograph showed ten supremely confident young men posing in their navy-blue tailcoats, with white silk facings and gold buttons, and mustard waistcoats. Sitting on a step at the front was twenty-two-year-old Boris Johnson and standing languidly at the back, like the prince of all he surveyed, was David Cameron, aged nineteen or twenty.37 These ‘Buller’ lads needed funds way beyond the reach of most people of their age.

England: Seven Myths That Changed a Country – and How to Set Them Straight
by Tom Baldwin and Marc Stears
Published 24 Apr 2024

The journalist Adrian Wooldridge describes the depressing experience of opening the annual newsletter from the Oxford college he attended to read its ‘self-satisfied litany of “all Balliol” marriages and “all Balliol babies” ’.36 Of course, not everyone who studies or studied at Oxford is cut from the same cloth. For every David Cameron, George Osborne or Boris Johnson who dressed up in royal-blue tailcoats with ivory lapels as part of the Bullingdon Club dining society, there was a nerdier Jeremy Hunt or Ed Davey. They were followed by Liz Truss campaigning for the Liberal Democrats and against the monarchy and Rishi Sunak running a university-wide society for playing the stock market. There were the Miliband brothers – pick David or Ed – or an Andrew Adonis, donning Marks & Spencer jumpers to think serious thoughts.

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At Eton, Johnson is said to have developed a protective shell of a bumbling and dishevelled English character, forming friendships with people like Princess Diana’s brother while perfecting ‘upmarket laddish banter’ based on a prep school vocabulary mixed with bits of Latin.60 Although at Oxford he instantly became a university-wide celebrity, his later confession that he had been among the members of the Bullingdon Club who were notoriously arrested for smashing up a restaurant in 1987 is said to have been another lie. According to at least one former member, Johnson was not one of those caught by the police that night. His account, given to a newspaper two decades later, of spending a night in the cells may have been invented because he wanted to be more like the posh English boys he admired so much.61 Ultimately, Johnson’s antics in this uncivil culture war served only as a gigantic technicoloured distraction from the very real challenges facing both Establishment institutions and the country itself.

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Index Abbot, Russ, here Abercrombie, Patrick, here abortion, here Abramovich, Roman, here Acland, James, here Act of Union, here, here Adonis, Andrew, here, here Aethelred the Unready, here Aethelstan, King, here Afghanistan, here, here–here, here Agbetu, Toyin, here Aherne, Caroline, here AJ Tracey, here Akala, here Alan, Lord of Galloway, here Albarn, Damon, here Alexandria, here Alfred, King, here, here, here Ali, Tariq, here Allcock, Peter, here Allen, Lily, here al-Qaeda, here ‘Amazing Grace’, here, here American Civil War, here American Declaration of Independence, here, here, here–here American War of Independence, here Andrew, Prince, here Anglo-Saxon liberties, here–here, here, here Anne, Princess, here Antigua, here Arkwright, Julie, here Arsenal FC, here, here, here Arthur, King, here Arts and Crafts movement, here Ashworth, David, here Astor, Nancy, here asylum seekers, here, here, here–here, here–here, here–here, here–here, here, here Attlee, Clement, here Aung San Suu Kyi, here, here Austen, Jane, here austerity, here–here, here, here–here, here, here Baddiel, David, here Baden-Powell, Robert, here, here Bakshi, Balbir Singh, here Baldwin, Stanley, here–here Ball, Alan, here Ball, Zoe, here Balls, Ed, here Bamping, Danny, here–here Bank of England, here, here Banks, Arron, here Baptists, here, here Barakat, Sheikh Ali, here Barbados, here, here Barber, Lynn, here Barnes, John, here Batson, Brendan, here Batth, Danny, here BBC, here, here–here, here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here–here Beatles, the, here–here, here Beckham, David, here, here Bede, here Belgian Congo, here, here benefit fraud, here–here Bengal Famine, here–here, here Benn, Tony, here, here Bennett, Alan, here Benton, Scott, here–here, here, here Beowulf, here Berezovsky, Boris, here Berlin, Isaiah, here Berlin Wall, here Berners-Lee, Sir Tim, here, here Betjeman, John, here Bevan, Aneurin, here Beveridge Report, here Bevin, Ernest, here Bible, the, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here Bill of Rights, here, here Bilocca, Lillian, here Bingham, Geoff, here Bingham, Tom, here Bingley, Richard, here–here Black, Cilla, here Black, Heather, here Black and White Minstrel Show, The, here Black Country, here, here, here, here, here–here, here–here, here Black Lives Matter, here, here Black Panthers, here Blackpool, here–here, here and austerity, here, here–here, here–here, here–here, here–here Censorship Board, here deck chairs, here Grundy Art Gallery, here Metropole hotel, here–here old railway station, here, here, here Showtown exhibition, here–here, here Tower Ballroom, here–here, here Winter Gardens, here, here–here Blackpool FC, here, here Blair, Tony, here, here–here, here, here, here, here and Iraq War, here–here, here and Millennium Dome, here–here and New Labour project, here–here and Wilberforce, here–here Blanchflower, Danny, here Blavatnik, Leonard, here–here Bleasdale, Alan, here Blitz, the, here, here–here, here–here, here Bloodworth, James, here Bloody Assizes, here Blower, Joey, here–here, here–here, here Blur, here Boer War, here, here Book of Common Prayer, here Booth, William, here Boy Scout movement, here Boyle, Danny, here Bragg, Billy, here Bragg, Melvyn, here–here Brand, Jo, here Braverman, Suella, here Brazil, here, here Brexit, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here–here, here–here, here–here, here, here–here, here, here–here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here, here and Magna Carta, here, here, here and Sir Francis Drake, here–here trade deals, here–here, here Brexit Party, here, here, here Bright, John, here British Empire, here, here, here, here–here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here British Empire Exhibition, here British Leyland, here British Library, here British Museum, here, here British Telecom, here Britpop, here Brontë sisters, here Brooke, Rupert, here Brown, Gordon, here, here, here–here, here Brown, Hope, here Brown, Jane, here Brown, Roy ‘Chubby’, here–here, here, here Brownies, here, here–here, here Buckland Abbey, here, here, here, here Bull, Steve, here, here Bullingdon Club, here, here Burchell, Thomas, here–here Burnard, Trevor, here Bush, George W., here–here Butler, Rab, here Butterworth, Jez, here Buxton, Thomas Foxwell, here Caine, Michael, here Calatrava, Santiago, here California, here, here Callaghan, James, here Calvert, Josie, here–here Cameron, David, here–here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here Campbell, Alastair, here, here Canary Wharf, here–here, here, here, here, here, here ‘cancel culture’ (the phrase), here Canning, George, here Cape of Good Hope, here capital punishment, here, here, here ‘Captain Swing’, here car ownership, here Carey, William, here Carlebach, Rabbi Ephraim, here Carlyle, Thomas, here Carmichael, Stokely, here Carr, Jimmy, here–here Carroll, Lewis, here Case, Simon, here Cash, Bill, here Castle, Barbara, here Cato Street Conspiracy, here Centre for Brexit Policy, here Ceylon, here Chadwick, Helen, here Chamberlain, Darryl, here Chamberlain, Joseph, here, here Chamberlain, Neville, here Channel Tunnel, here Charlecote Park, here Charles I, King, here–here, here, here Charles II, King, here Charles III, King, here, here, here Charter 88 movement, here Charter of the Forests, here Chartists, here–here, here, here–here, here Chartwell, here Cheng, Simon, here Chesapeake Bay, Battle of, here Chichester, Francis, here Chigudu, Simukai, here Chilcot Inquiry, here child chimney sweeps, here children taken into care, here–here China, here–here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here, here Choi, Richard, here Church of England, here, here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here, here Churchill, Winston, here, here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here citizenship ceremonies, here–here City of London deregulation, here Civil Service, here, here, here–here, here Clapham Sect, here, here, here, here, here Clarke, Andy, here Clarkson, Eliza Ann, here Clarkson, Thomas, here–here ‘class war’, here Clibery, Ken, here climate change, here, here, here–here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here Clinton, Bill, here Clive, Robert, here–here, here Clowes, Will, here–here Cobbett, William, here Cobden, Richard, here, here Cod Wars, here Coel, Michaela, here, here Coke, Sir Edward, here–here Coldplay, here Coleman, Jenna, here, here Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, here College of Europe, here Colley, Linda, here, here Collier, Paul, here Colston, Edward, here Combination Acts, here common law, here–here, here, here, here, here, here–here Commonwealth War Graves Commission, here concentration camps, here Concorde, here condoms, Italian, here Confucius, here Connery, Sean, here Conrad, Joseph, here Conservative Party Cameron government, here–here, here, here–here and culture wars, here–here, here–here and defence spending, here and English identity, here–here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here and Enoch Powell, here, here, here, here, here, here and Europe, here, here–here, here–here, here and immigration, here, here–here, here, here, here and imperial preference, here and khaki election, here and Millennium Dome, here–here and Plymouth City Council, here–here and Red Wall, here–here and Thatcher, here, here, here Constable, John, here contraception, here, here Cook, Captain James, here Cooper, Tommy, here, here Cooper, Yvette, here Corbyn, Jeremy, here, here, here, here, here Corbyn, Piers, here Corn Laws, here–here, here, here, here Cosey Fanni Tutti, here Cottam, Hilary, here Cotterill, Drucilla, here Cottrell-Boyce, Frank, here Coum, here Counter-Reformation, here–here Countryside Alliance, here, here Covid pandemic, here, here, here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here, here vaccination programme, here–here Coward, Noël, here Cox, Jo, here Cranmer, Thomas, here Crawford, Martha, here cricket, here, here, here Cromwell, Oliver, here, here, here Crooks, Wade, here Cross of St George, here Cuba, here Cugoano, Ottobah, here ‘culture wars’ (the phrase), here–here Cumberbatch, Benedict, here, here Cummings, Dominic, here, here, here Cunningham, Lawrie, here Curtis, Richard, here Dad’s Army, here Danegeld, here Daniels, Phil, here darts, here Darwin, Charles, here, here Davey, Ed, here Davie, Tim, here Davies, Mike, here Davies, Norman, here Davis, David, here, here Dawson, Les, here Dayil, Tyler, here debt cancellation, here Defoe, Daniel, here democracy, here, here, here, here–here, here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here folkmoot democracy, here, here ‘industrial democracy’, here Demos, here Denham, John, here Denmark, abolition of slavery, here devolution, here, here, here, here, here–here Diana, Princess of Wales, here, here, here, here Dickens, Charles, here–here, here, here Diggers, here, here Disraeli, Benjamin, here, here Dodd, Ken, here Dodds, Anneliese, here Dogger Bank incident, here domestic servants, here Doughty, Thomas, here Drake, Sir Francis, here–here, here–here, here–here, here–here, here, here, here, here, here ‘Drake’s drum’, here and piracy, here, here–here, here–here, here, here, here–here drugs, here–here, here Dublin, Nelson’s Pillar, here Duffy, Gillian, here Duncan Smith, Iain, here Dunkirk, here, here, here Duran Duran, here Dury, Ian, here Dvořák, Antonín, here East India Company, here, here, here, here, here, here Edward VII, King, here Einstein, Albert, here–here electoral reform, here Elford, William, here Elgar, Edward, here Elgin Marbles, here Eliot, T.

Small Men on the Wrong Side of History: The Decline, Fall and Unlikely Return of Conservatism
by Ed West
Published 19 Mar 2020

It’s impossible to discuss this subject without sounding like one of those old people who used to write to the Daily Telegraph complaining that the word ‘gay’ had been hijacked by homosexualists. But many terms have come to change either their meaning or their tone. ‘Elitism’, once a good thing, now usually implies discrimination by the wealthy, privileged and unfairly advantaged. It makes you think of the Bullingdon Club or Draco Malfoy or whatever, and journalists even go on about elitism when politics is full of Oxbridge graduates, even though Oxford and Cambridge are literally the best universities in Britain. After all, we generally like the best people to be in charge of most things; we’d prefer if the guy flying our plane had gone to whatever is the flight-school equivalent of Oxbridge.

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Even though I was still earning peanuts, and had no financial incentives to reduce tax, the amount of money being spent just struck me as reckless. Yet despite this many were reluctant to go with the Conservatives, whose image had not much improved since the days of Baxter Basics and Tory Boy. It didn’t help that the leaders were posher than ever and had mostly been members of something called the Bullingdon Club, a society for rich idiots who liked smashing up restaurants, which journalistic Oxford contemporaries cited as evidence of their elitism. I’d never heard of them but it all seemed like something from a Jonathan Coe novel, and the pictures of the Bullingdon Boys did rather make them look like they were in Slytherin, as one Radio 4 comic observed.

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Norton, 1979). 25 http://anepigone.blogspot.com/2018/06/centrists-find-politics-boring-wish-it.html. 26 https://medium.com/@ryanfazio/politics-are-not-the-sum-of-a-person-378102f25334. 27 Burton Egbert Stevenson, The Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases (London: Macmillan, 1948) INDEX 28 Days Later (2002) 185 Abbott, Jack 121 abortion 166, 168, 202, 217, 241, 363 Abortion Act 217 Abramson, Lyn Yvonne 30 academia 7–8, 12, 16–17, 136–8, 319–26 activism 7, 316–17, 326 actors 186–7 Adam 33, 219 Adam, Corinna 18 Adams, Henry 90–1 Adams, John 281 Adams, Samuel 281, 331 Adorno, Theodor 135 The Authoritarian Personality 104–7, 143 Aesop’s Fables 260 Africa 15 Agamemnon 187 Agnew, Spiro 154 agnostics 216 agreeableness 108 Aids 125 Ailes, Roger 313, 346 al-Qaida 13, 125, 201 al-Sahaf, Mohammed Saeed 353 alcohol consumption 112–13, 133 Aldred, Ebenezer 61 Alexander, Scott 118, 315–16, 342–3 Allen, William 92 Allen, Woody 102 Alloy, Lauren 30 ‘Alt-Right’ 345, 347 Altemeyer, Bob 107, 333 American Beauty (1999) 106, 184 American Civil Liberties Union 201–2 American constitution 345 American independence 53, 55, 305 American National Election Studies 303 American Political Science Association 300 ‘American Religion’ 222 American Revolution 55, 280–1 Amnesty International 99, 201, 202, 212 ANC 16, 89, 189 ancien régime 178, 333, 358–9 Andrews, Helen 176 Anglicanism 13, 37, 64, 65, 202, 214, 222 Communion 220 High Church 50, 51 norms 79 supremacy 292 anti-apartheid movement 16 anti-Catholicism 232 anti-communism 22, 211 anti-humanitarianism 74 anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) 163 Antichrist 64 Antonia, Lady Fraser 42 apartheid 89, 174 Apollo 29 Aquinas, Thomas 326 Arabs 362 Arbuthnot, Norman 312 aristos 31 Arnold, Matthew 279 art, degenerate 98 Arts Council 197 Aryans 89 ASBOs see anti-social behaviour orders Ashley Madison website 107 Asquith, Robert 168 atheism 52–3, 214–16, 292, 294 see also New Atheism Athelstan, King 126 Athens 31 Atlantic magazine 341, 348, 366 Attenborough, David 195 Attlee, Clement 175 Attlee era 177 Augustine of Hippo 31–3, 35, 349 Augustine, St 110, 291 Auschwitz 98 authoritarian personality 104–7, 118, 334 authoritarianism 140, 148, 208, 262, 329–30, 333–4, 338, 350 autism 138 Ayres, Bill 236 Babeuf, François-Noël 60–1 baby boomers 44, 83, 131, 155 Bad Religion 102 bad-thinkers 144–5, 146, 150, 152 Baldwin, Alec 24 Balfour, Arthur 265 Bank of England 331 Bannon, Steven 152, 309, 347 Baptists 59, 145 barbarism 65, 66, 84 barbarians 12, 131 Bargh, John 115 Barlow, Joel 109 Baron-Cohen, Sacha 333 Barrès, Maurice 95 Basics, Baxter (Viz character) 86, 267 Bastille, storming of the 55, 59, 331 Batbie, Anselme 274 Batek 131 BBC 3, 149, 165, 186, 190–7, 265, 266, 313–14, 337 Beatles 166, 287 beatnik poetry 127 Becker, Ernest 115 Beeching Axe 285 Belgium 303 Belle Époque era 126, 175, 184–5 Benedict, St 373 Benedict XVI, Pope 218, 232, 233 Benn, Tony 18, 21, 42 Bentham, Jeremy 78, 92, 223–4 Berenger, Tom 110 Berlin 20–1, 23, 41–2 Berlin Wall 21, 22, 23, 86 Betjeman, John 285 Bevan, Nye 230 Beyoncé 24 Beyond the Fringe 191 Bible 50, 219, 229, 294 Bible Belt 228 Big Five personality traits 108–13, 137, 363 ‘Big Sort, The’ 295 Bill of Rights 305–6 biological determinism 139 birth control 364 birth rates 362–4 Bishop, Bill 295 Black Death 34–5 Black Lives Matter 338 Black Wednesday 154 Blackadder 331 Blair, Tony 21, 24, 79, 153, 156, 158–61, 163–4, 183, 189, 192, 213, 266–7, 270 Blair era 167, 203–4, 205, 281 ‘Blob, the’ 271 Bloom, Allan 98 Bloom, Paul 321 Bloomsbury 18 ‘blue wave’ 2006 274 Blumenberg, Hans 67 Boas, Franz 133–4 ‘Bobo’ (bohemian bourgeois) 244, 308 Bogart, Humphrey 24 Bolshevik Revolution 303 Bolshevism 226, 246 Borat 333 Bosnia 214 bourgeois 132, 246 bourgeoisie 9, 97, 127, 135 see also Ruling Class Boy Scouts 197 Bradbury, Malcolm 39 brain 116–17 Brando, Marlon 24, 341 Brazil 164 Brecht, Bertolt 186 Breitbart (website) 308, 309, 314, 315, 317–18, 347 Breitbart, Andrew 181, 308 Brennan, Mr 47 Brent, David 192 Brexit 4, 26–7, 103, 186, 195, 270, 346, 353–60, 365, 370 Brexit Referendum (2016) 3, 173, 222, 270, 275, 302, 354–5, 357, 359 Brief Encounter (1945) 162, 168 British Army 9 British Empire 57 British National Party 87 British Potato Council 203 ‘broken windows’ theory 69 Brook 241 Brooke, Heather 298 Brooker, Charlie 249 Brooks, Arthur 82, 191, 299 Who Really Cares 237 Brooks, David 244 ‘brotherhood of man’ 71, 100 Brown, Dan 213 Brown, Gordon 203, 265, 281 Brown era 203–4 Bruinvels, Peter 194 B’Stard, Alan 89 Buchanan, Pat 154–9, 313 Buckley, William F. 68, 295–6, 313 Bullingdon Club 267 Burke, Edmund 47, 53–5, 57–9, 61–3, 65, 66, 68, 70–2, 82, 89–90, 159, 163, 181, 190, 191, 198, 230, 274, 279, 280, 345, 365 Burleigh, Michael 88 Bush, George, Sr 86, 156 Bush, George W. 27, 201, 236, 248, 313 buttons 34–5 Byrne, Liam 266 C2DE social class 5 cable TV 311 Cafod 233 California 4, 320 Calvin, John (Jean) 48, 49, 293 Calvinism 45, 49, 64 Cambridge 49 Cambridge University 52, 55, 145, 151, 326, 348 Camden Labour Party 18 Cameron, David 237, 265, 266, 267, 270, 272, 359 Cameron faction 266, 270, 359 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) 81 Campbell, Alistair 159–60 Camus, Albert 226 Canada 178, 201 capitalism 15, 64, 78, 93, 97, 280, 339 Caplan, Bryan 275 Capra, Frank 123 Captain America comics 237 Carlson, Tucker 365 Carlyle, Thomas 41, 75, 76 cars 285–6 Cash, Johnny 24 Cassandra 28–9, 62, 373 Catharism 254–5 Cathedral, the 202–3, 271 Catholic Church 48, 116, 212, 212–14, 217–18, 232, 233, 269, 333 Catechism 137 Catholic Emancipation Act 289 Catholic Herald (newspaper) 212, 213, 216, 219, 233, 241, 272, 307, 339 Catholicism 11–13, 33, 37, 41–3, 45, 49, 51–2, 54, 57, 62, 64, 75, 134–5, 142, 155, 158, 176, 199, 202, 211–13, 217–18, 222, 230–1, 241, 243, 272–3, 291–2, 294, 296, 339, 363 see also anti-Catholicism Cato Institute 324 Cavaliers 53, 57 Ceauşecu 46 censorship 148, 166, 188–9, 290, 331 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 61 ‘centrist dad’ 8 Chagnon, Napoleon 147 Change 3 Change UK 3 Channel 4 168, 232 charities 57, 199–202, 233, 237 Charles I 49, 55 Charles II 36, 37, 52 Charles-Roux, Fr Jean-Marie 210–11 Chartists 175 Chelsea FC 47 Chesterton, G.

Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class
by Owen Jones
Published 14 Jul 2011

But before Cameron had even started university, he worked as an adolescent parliamentary researcher for his godfather, the Tory MP Tim Rathbone. A few months later, after his father pulled a few strings, Cameron went to Hong Kong to work for a multinational corporation. Following his graduation from Oxford University, where he was a member of the infamous toffs' drinking society the Bullingdon Club, he was parachuted into a job at Conservative Central Office, which had received a mysterious phone call from Buckingham Palace that can't have ruined his chances. '1 understand that you are to see David Cameron,' a man with a grand voice told a Central Office official. 'I've tried everything Ican to dissuade him from wasting his time on politics but I have failed.

…

Overwhelmingly, those on the receiving end were both poor and working class-s-end, according to a survey in 2005, nearly four out of every ten ASBOs went to young people with mental health problems such as Asperger's Syndrome. In one case, a child with Tourette's was given an ASBO for his compulsive swearing. Whether or not you agree with ASBOs, it is difficult to deny that they have increased the bad reputation of young working-class kids and popularized the chav caricature. After all, members of the Bullingdon Club-whose great tradition is to smash up pubs and restaurants-- were never likely to be awarded an ASBO. Even New Labour's own youth justice 'tsar', Professor Rod Morgan, criticized the measures for 'demonizing' a whole section of British youth and criminalizing them for offences that once would have been regarded as 'high jinks', Itis dif- ficult to disagree with author Anthony Horowitz when he says that ASBOs 'add up to create a cumulative vision of a Britain full of yobs, with crack houses on every inner-city estate; drunken youths running amock in provincial towns, and so on.

The Dealmaker: Lessons From a Life in Private Equity
by Guy Hands
Published 4 Nov 2021

Abanto, Nelson, 76 ABBA, 39 Abbey Road Studios, London, 207 Absolute Beginners (1986 film), 169 Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), 148 AC/DC, 167 Aeroflot, 160 Ahuja, Vivek, 306, 308 Air France, 108 Air Wick, 223 Airbus, 156 aircraft, 154–60 Alastalo, Ossi, 312, 313 Albarn, Damon, 211 Alchemy, 263 alcohol, 46, 71, 99–101 Alexander, Stephen, 159 ‘All By Myself’ (Carmen), 213 All That Jazz, 287 Allen, Lily, 205 Allen, Patrick, 94–5 Allen, Woody, 48 Alliance Boots, 164–6, 175, 180, 183, 268 Alliance UniChem, 164 Allianz Capital Partners, 154 Almost Famous (2000 film), 282 Aloha Airlines, 157 Ames, Roger, 217 Analyst Programme, 308 Angel Trains, 110–11, 121, 154 Annington Homes, 278, 279–81, 300 Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS), 154–60, 276, 278 Antarctica, 277–8 anti-depressants, 297–8 Apartheid South Africa, 3, 4–5 aphantasia, 29–30 Apollo, 215 Apple, 198 Aquavit, New York, 248 Arora, Nikesh, 198 Arriva, 108 Arsenal FC, 289 art-selling businesses, 36–9, 47, 49, 60–61 Artsake gallery, Oxford, 60–61 Asda, 218 AstraZeneca, 292 AT&T Capital, 123 Athena, 60 Atomic Energy Commission, 78 Australia, 189–90, 273, 276, 299 autism, 11 autobahn, 152, 264 Babcock & Brown, 112 Bahrain, 81, 82 balance sheet insolvency, 231 Bangalore, India, 156 Bank of America, 251 Bank of Scotland, 166 Barber of Seville, The (Rossini), 264 Barclays, 186, 280 Bath, Somerset, 18 Bear Stearns, 186, 194 Beast from the East (2018), 284 Beatles, The, 1, 172, 191, 194, 197, 207–9, 303 Beehive pub, Chipstead, 29 beer, 99–108 Beijing, China, 275 Benn, Anthony ‘Tony’, 50 Benny Hill Show, The (TV series), 50 Better Capital, 263 Bieber, Justin, 199 Big Bang (1986), 77 Biggin Hill Airport, London, 183 Birt, John, Baron, 162, 321 Black Hands Gang, 196, 198 Black, Leon, 215 Blackfriars, London, 39 Blackstone Group, 163, 215 Blair, Anthony ‘Tony’, 162 Blavatnik, Len, 232 bluefin tuna, 166 Blyth, Chay, 19 BNP Paribas, 188 Boeing, 155, 156, 158 Boies, David, 240–41, 245, 247, 249, 252 Boies Schiller, 233–4, 240, 247, 249 bond trading, 66–88 Boots, 164–6, 175, 180, 183, 268 ‘Born This Way’ (Lady Gaga), 141 Borrows, Simon, 189 Bowen, Richard, 193–4 Bowie, David, 169–70 Bradshaw, Kevin, 271 Branch, Margaret, 9, 12, 13 Branson, Richard, 109 Brazil, 157–8 Brexit (2016–20), 319 Brideshead Revisited (Waugh), 45 Bridgewater, 261 Brighterkind, 299 Brighton, East Sussex, 37 Brit Awards, 173 British Legion, 139 British Leyland, 53, 55 British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, 275 British Rail, 108, 196 British Steel, 19 Bromley, Kent, 169 Brown, John, 122, 318 Browne, Dave, 308 Browns, Shoreditch, 105 BSkyB, 198 Buffett, Warren, 193, 215 Bullfinch pub, Sevenoaks, 232 Bullingdon Club, 45 bullying, 7, 12, 15, 17, 18, 23–4, 29 Burger King, 153, 203, 264, 265 Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, 5 Burton, Michael, 255 Bush, George W., 248 Buxted Park Hotel, East Sussex, 218 ‘Bye Bye Life’ (All That Jazz), 287 California, United States, 248 Callas, Maria, 194 Cambridge University, 39, 47 Campaign for Real Ale, 100 Canada Pension Plan (CPP), 146–8, 160 cannabis, 52 Capital Company of America (CCA), 125–9 Capitalism: A Love Story (2009 film), 244–5 Care Quality Commission, 269 Carey, Mariah, 258 Carlyle Group, 215 Carmen, Eric, 213 Catford, London, 105 Catholicism, 52 cattle stations, 276 CDs (compact discs), 170–71, 198, 201, 203, 205 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 124 Cerberus Capital Management, 182, 184, 217, 242, 243 Chelsea FC, 182 Chelsea Flower Show, 185 Cherwell, 59 Chesterton, G.

…

(Beatles, The), 191 Hendon Hall Hotel, London, 301 Hermes, 275 Hertford College, Oxford, 52 Hewlett-Packard, 70 Hill, Rupert, 44 Hill Samuel, 65 Holiday Inn, 182 Holy Trinity school, Cookham, 6–9, 12–13 homosexuality, 248 Hong Kong, 72, 74, 96, 123, 275 ‘Hotel California’ (Eagles), 258 Howard, Mark, 256–7 Howe, Geoffrey, 57 Hugo, Victor, 325 Hurdelbrink, Michael, 126–7, 129 Hyper Entertainment, 131 hyperglycaemia, 32 hypnotism, 294 ‘I Am Human’ (Escape The Fate), ix ‘I Fought the Law’ (The Clash), 229 ‘If–’ (Kipling), 25, 245 In Rainbows (Radiohead), 204 India, 96, 223, 226–7 initial public offerings (IPOs), 160, 163 Inland Revenue, 138, 225–6, 247 Inntrepreneur, 107 Institute for Fiscal Studies, 321 Institute for Government, 321 Intelligent Investor, The (Graham), 16 InterContinental Hotels Group, 182 International Monetary Fund, 50 ‘Internationale, The’, 245 Investcorp, 81 Investment Advisory Committee (IAC), 179–80 Iran, 156 Iraq, 82–3 Ireland, 11 Iron Maiden, 172 Irving, John, 19 Island Records, 207 Islington, London, 321, 323 Italy, 262, 273, 276 Jackson, Gary, 55 Jackson, Janet, 206–7 Jagger, Michael ‘Mick’, 205 Japan, xii–xiii, 72–3, 79, 84, 91–114, 124, 136, 148–9 fish markets in, 166 four as unlucky number, 273 fugu, 148 hostess clubs, 136 leadership in, 200 nemawashi, 101–2, 111 sokaiya, 124 Yakuza, 124, 129 Zaitech bubble (c. 1984–9), 79 Jennings, Waylon, 41 Jericho, Oxford, 60 John Hancock, 225 Jones, Davy, 39 Joseph, Keith, 50 Judd School, Tonbridge, 23–5, 28–9, 31–3 junk bonds, 79–81 Kachingwe, Mayamiko, 151, 155, 157 karaoke, 200 Keble College, Oxford, 34, 35 Kent House, Knightsbridge, 185 Keogh, John, 67, 70, 72, 74 KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti), xiii Kiernan, Jamie, 66 King George Island, Antarctica, 277 King, Justin, 266, 268–71, 273–7, 281, 283–5, 295–6, 308 Kingfisher Airlines, 156 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, 36–9 Kinski, Michael, 144–5, 146, 148 Kipling, Rudyard, 25, 245 Klein, Michael, 123–4, 161, 163, 173, 181, 187, 219, 222 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), 164, 165, 215 Kona, Hawaii, 166 Kroll, 158 Kulenkampff, Georg, 157, 159 Kuwait, 82, 222 Lady Gaga, 141 Laine, Sami, 313 Langeni people, 17 Lansdowne’s, Sevenoaks, 26–8, 29 Las Vegas, Nevada, 257 Lawson, Dominic, 57 Lawson, Nigel, 56 Lawson, Nigella, 57 Leahy, Terence ‘Terry’, 266 Leat, Chad, 222, 238, 239 Lehman Brothers, 128, 218 Leicester Square, London, 263 Leighton, Allan, 218 Lemaire Channel, 278 Lennon, John, 208 Levi, Lorenzo, 157 Liar’s Poker (Lewis), 84 Libby, Lewis ‘Scooter’, 241 Limited Partners (LPs), 183 Linden Park, Tunbridge Wells, 33, 34 Linens ’n Things, 215 Livingstone, Kenneth ‘Ken’, 132 Lloyd George, David, 58 Lloyds Banking Group, 267, 271 London, England Citigroup litigation, 255–7 Goldman Sachs, 65–72, 74–8 Nomura, 91–114, 122–40 London School of Economics, 32 London Stock Exchange, 92 Long-Term Capital Management, 125 Love (Cirque du Soleil), 207 Lynch, Gerard, 248 Lynn, Lesley, 222, 226, 227 Mackintosh, Clive, 54 Macmillan, Harold, 58 Macquarie Group, 159 Magdalen College, Oxford, 54, 55 Magic Circle, 232 Magnuson, Rick, 91, 137 Mallya, Vijay, 156 ‘Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies …’ (Jennings and Nelson), 41 Man Group, 182, 186 Manchester United FC, 182, 289 Mandela, Nelson, 5 Mansfield College, Oxford, 34–6, 43–59, 322 Maria Grey Teacher Training College, 4, 9 market crash (1989), 194 Marks & Spencer, 183 Martin, George, 207 Mason, Nicholas, 113 Matsuura, Shu, 105 Mauna Kea, Hawaii, 227 May, Brian, 113 May, Philip, 54, 56 May, Theresa, 56 McCartney, Paul, 208 McCrae, Julian, 321 McDonald’s, 86, 203, 264–6, 278, 283, 289, 290, 309–10, 315 McKillop, Tom, 292 McKinsey, 261, 314 McLaughlan, Roger, 273 Medici family, 262 Melchionna, Jerry, 93, 126–8 mergers and acquisitions, 120 Mermaid Theatre, Blackfriars, 39 Merrill Lynch, 86, 91, 92, 149, 172 Midland Bank, 65 Miles, Bill, 144, 145, 163 Millennium Dome, London, 130–36 Miller, Andrew, 290, 291 Ministry of Defence, 196, 279–81, 300 Minogue, Kylie, 178, 209–10 Mondale, Walter, 130 Monday Club, 53–4 Monkees, The, 39 Moody’s, 169 Moore, Michael, 244–5 Moreno, Glen, 292 Morgan Stanley, 85, 128–9, 155, 226 Morris, Doug, 195 Mortara, Michael, 84 mortgage-backed securities (MBSs), 194 Moscow, Russia, xii–xiii Moulton, Jon, 263 Mthethwa people, 17 Murdoch, James, 198 Murdoch, Rupert, 155, 174 music industry, 169–71, 176, 190, 195–6, 198, 201, 203, 207, 234 ‘My Way’ (Sinatra), 200 Naga, 283, 310–11 Natal University, 3 National Association for Gifted Children, 9 National Lottery, 117 Nazi Germany (1933–45), 9, 26, 33 Nazzaro, Pasquale, 290, 291 Nelson Street, Oxford, 60 Nelson, Willie, 41 nemawashi, 101–2, 111 New Century, 181 New Jersey, United States, 222 New Millennium Experience Company, 133–6 New York Times, 169 New York, United States, 69, 75, 80, 84 Citigroup litigation, 233, 234, 238–52 Nomura, 125, 126 Pearl Street, 80, 81, 240 New Zealand, 225 News Corporation, 155 Newcourt, 123 newts, 132 Nicoli, Eric, 173, 174, 176, 198–9, 242, 256 Nikko, 79 Nirvana, 181 Nixon, Peter, 37 Nomura, xii–xiv, 79, 91–114, 121, 123–40, 143–4, 313 Angel Trains, 110–11, 121 Annington Homes, 279 AT&T Capital, 123 CCA, 125–9 Citigroup and, 123–4 Millennium Dome, 130–36 PFG, 98–114, 120, 129, 137, 144, 313 Phoenix Inns, 100–108 sokaiya scandal (1997), 124 Terra Firma and, 225 Unique Pub Company, 123 US shares listing (2000), 136–7 Nonconformist Christianity, 43 Norman, Archibald, 218 North Carolina, 148 North Sea oil, xiii, xv Northern Foods, 220 Northern Ireland, 50 Norway, 264–6 O’Donnell, Augustine ‘Gus’, 162, 186 O’Driscoll, Pat, 220 Oaktree Capital, 215 Odeon, 198 Odeon Cinemas, 278 Old Government House Hotel, Guernsey, 180 Old Lane, 226–7 Old, Richard, 55 Oman, 302, 305 Ono, Yoko, 208 Operation Desert Storm (1991), 82–3 Oriel College, Oxford, 49 Orpington, Kent, 38 Osaka, Japan, 148 Oxford University, 4, 10, 32–6, 39, 43–59, 263 Bullingdon Club, 45 Conservative Association (OUCA), 53–8, 61 debating society, 49–50 drinking culture, 46 Hertford College, 52 Magdalen College, 54, 55 Mansfield College, 34–6, 43–59, 322 Union, 53, 54, 56, 58–9 University College, 321 Pandit, Vikram, 223, 226–7 Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, 178 Parmaco, 296, 300, 311–16 Parmalat, 243 Partners Group, 316 Patten, John, 52–3 Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, 241 Pea Stacks, Guernsey, 325–6 Pearl Street, New York, 80, 81, 240 Peasants’ Revolt (1381), 321 Pegasus Aviation Finance Company, 155 Penner, Ethan, 91–3, 124–8, 170 Permira, 173 Personal Presentations, 315 Pessina, Stefano, 164, 166 philosophy, 48 Phoenix, Arizona, 86 Phoenix Inns, 100–108 photography, 14, 25, 29–31 Pimlico, London, 169 Pink Floyd, 113, 172, 178 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 276 pobbles, 28 Point, The (1977 play), 39 poker, 29 Poland, 57–8 Poster Shop, London, 60 Premier Inn, 316 Prescott, John, 132, 134 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 135 Prince, Charles ‘Chuck’, 188, 217, 223 Principal Finance Group (PFG), 98–114, 120, 129, 137, 144, 160, 313 private equity, 98, 110, 118–22, 123, 177, 193 Private Guy, 58–9 Project Blackjack, 219 Project Ford, 273 Project Poker, 219 pronunciation, 11 Proposition 8 (2008), 248 prostitution, 195 Prudential Insurance, 170 Pryce, Tim, 138, 150, 180, 217, 224, 232, 233, 247, 248, 249, 252 pubs, 100–108, 123 Punja, Riaz, 155 punk music, xi, 43 Punta Arenas, Chile, 277 Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman, 302 Qantas, 108 Qatar, 268 Queen (band), 113 Queen’s University Belfast, 32 Radiohead, 172, 204 Railtrack, 108 Railway and Bike pub, Sevenoaks, 26 railways, 108–11, 121, 196 Rakoff, Jed Saul, 236, 251–2 Randolph Hotel, Oxford, 66 Ravenscroft Preparatory School, Somerset, 13–19, 23 Reckitt Benckiser, 223 Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, 325 Retreat, The, Cookham, 6 ‘Revolution 1’ (Beatles, The), 303 Rhode Island, 126 Rhodesia (1965–79), xv, 4, 5, 6 Riccardi family, 262 Ritter, E.

Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health
by David Nutt
Published 9 Jan 2020

In fact, ‘uppers and downers’ is the most popular combination in the history of drug-taking. Another example of this is cocaine and alcohol. Back in the 1890s, when cocaine was legal, a wine called Mariani from Italy contained both. And it was endorsed by the Pope, no less. And you may have heard the rumours about David Cameron, Boris Johnson and other Bullingdon Club members allegedly taking cocaine and drinking alcohol at parties.5 The reason why people might do this is in order to be able to drink more and for longer. Interestingly, when in the 1990s the Icelandic government passed a law to allow 24-hour drinking, there was subsequently an increase in amphetamine use.6 One of the issues with cocaine and alcohol is that they work together in the body to produce a new chemical, called coca-ethylene (CE).

Reaching for Utopia: Making Sense of an Age of Upheaval
by Jason Cowley
Published 15 Nov 2018

It coincided with the cult of the ‘New Romantic’ in pop and encouraged fashion-conscious young men to grow their fringes long, wear fine white shirts, flannels and cricket sweaters. Several friends of mine, who were contemporaries of David Cameron at Oxford, liked to dress in what we called the ‘retro-Brideshead’ style and Cameron back then was a recognisably neo-Brideshead archetype, right down to his floppy fringe, cricket sweaters and membership of the Bullingdon Club (a membership he shared with the fictional Flyte). Cameron was one of those students at Oxford people knew of and spoke about, even if they didn’t actually know him. Journalists such as Toby Young and James Delingpole, who knew Cameron a little back then, write enviously even today of the effect of his youthful hauteur and insouciance.

Social Class in the 21st Century
by Mike Savage
Published 5 Nov 2015

We see this syndrome operating very actively in the search for ‘talent’ embarked upon by leading companies and organizations acting to ‘hothouse’ their star performers in ‘Winner takes all’ markets. Meritocracy is not a curb to escalating inequality; it is actually implicated within it. In this respect, conventional images of George Osborne and David Cameron in their Bullingdon Club Oxford days, with the implication that the closed, old-fashioned elite world continues to look after its own, are misleading. Such images – for instance of an ‘Establishment’ – can be mobilized to suggest that if only we could have ‘true’ meritocracy and break down those remaining status barriers at the top, then we might be able to address the inequities of social class.

The Lost Decade: 2010–2020, and What Lies Ahead for Britain
by Polly Toynbee and David Walker
Published 3 Mar 2020

Milburn’s resignation letter savaged austerity and failed economic policy, saying they were leading to ‘more anger, more resentment and [creating] a breeding ground for populism’. Owning wealth had become more influential: the child of a homeowner was three times more likely to own their own home than the child of a non-property owner when they grew up. In the 1990s that had been only twice as likely. The public conversation was surreal. At the moment members of the Bullingdon Club cemented their hold on Downing Street, reports highlighted how few people from working-class backgrounds there were in the arts, theatre, music, law, journalism or finance. Children from professional backgrounds were 80 per cent more likely to go into professional jobs. Older artists and performers from working-class backgrounds who had sailed through arts and drama courses for free a generation back warned that future Hamlets would all be Harrovians.

All Day Long: A Portrait of Britain at Work
by Joanna Biggs
Published 8 Apr 2015

The soothing Sunday evening soap opera made the country estate into a metaphor for the nation: the indebted Earl of Grantham must modernise; the kitchen maid must upskill; the rebellious daughter who crosses class lines must die of puerperal fever. For Lord Somerleyton, with his belief in the traditional class structures with layers high and low, the get-stuck-in values of his parents’ time have ‘been washed away, pretty much’, but for the TUC, the Bullingdon Club elite is bringing a Downton Abbey-style society back to twenty-first-century Britain. If the nation is a family, and the family a nation, where does that leave women? Lord Somerleyton didn’t know until he was 18 that his father would endow the estate according to primogeniture. Why would he know?

The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save It
by Stuart Maconie
Published 5 Mar 2020

But I don’t feel that way, and even framing that thought seems mean and disloyal and treacherous. Because I’d rather have grown up pretending to be Johnny Rep with a plastic football, drinking illicit Pernod with Anne Thomas and listening to ‘Floy Joy’ in a car park than to have ever set foot in the dining room of the Bullingdon Club or worn an Eton collar. You had to watch out for the odd flying can of hot ash. But it was worth it. In 1985 I walked out of a job I hated and into a new career in a new town, just as David Bowie once sang. Well actually, he didn’t. It’s an instrumental. But the comparison works well and literally.

David Mitchell: Back Story
by David Mitchell
Published 10 Oct 2012

Gus Brown is playing the mysterious benefactor, Ben E Factor: ‘Here is a blank cheque. I only wish it could be more.’ This is from the first photoshoot Rob and I ever did together – we were still young enough to think that irony can take the curse off gurning. With James Bachman and Olivia Colman, just hanging out – the Bullingdon Club had nothing on us. Jeffrey Bernard is 21. Outside my parents’ house when Footlights came to Oxford to do a gig at the Playhouse. From left: Nick Nurock, me, Phil Radden, Robert Webb (seated), Matthew Holness, Jon Taylor (seated), Charles Dean, Tom Hilton, Charlie Hartill (seated), James Bachman, Claire Taylor and Sarah Moule.

March of the Lemmings: Brexit in Print and Performance 2016–2019
by Stewart Lee
Published 2 Sep 2019

Political turmoil has left humourists with nothing to aim at 16 July 2017 Last summer I wrote a comedy drama script, currently ‘in development with a major broadcaster’, concerning a charming, confident, clever and Machiavellian politician. Named Horace Thompson, he manipulates popular culture to consolidate support for a controversial referendum that he narrowly won, intending to further his own self-interest. And he was in the Bullingdon Club. And he lives in Islington. (I don’t know where I got the brilliant idea for this character from. Sometimes I think I am a genius, or some kind of unwitting god, forcibly exiled to Earth, his memory of his own divinity erased by jealous members of his former pantheon.) But like Liam Fox and David Davis and all the bullying Brexiteer shitbags, the charming, confident, clever and Machiavellian politician the character of Horace Thompson is inspired by no longer seems quite so charming, confident, clever and Machiavellian.

The Class Ceiling: Why It Pays to Be Privileged
by Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison
Published 28 Jan 2019

Elite universities, in other words, are not monolithic, and individuals entering from specific origins (in terms of class privilege and elite schooling) are clearly better able to capitalise on opportunities once inside. One has only to think about the enduring connection between elite backgrounds, elite schools and key Oxbridge clubs such as the Footlights, the Cambridge Apostles and the Bullingdon Club to see such elite channels in action.20 These findings also arguably represent another stark rejoinder to the ‘great equaliser’ thesis. Even educational institutions like Oxford and Cambridge, heralded as the ultimate meritocratic sorting houses, do not necessarily wash away the advantages of class background.

Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else
by Chrystia Freeland
Published 11 Oct 2012

And, like swallows, their favoured rich parts in summer are now their English bolt-holes in the north,” writes Harry Mount, the author of the essay, who also happens to be a second cousin of David Cameron, Britain’s aristocratic Conservative prime minister, a graduate of Westminster, one of Britain’s most exclusive private schools, and a former member of the Bullingdon Club, the exclusive and controversial private society at Oxford. “Britain now has a Wimbledon economy: we provide the charming venue, and foreigners come over to enjoy themselves on Centre Court. The paradox is that the recession has accelerated the globalisation of England. The English have been hard hit: with half a million jobs lost, and our rich stung—or chased abroad—by the 50p tax and the tax on bank bonuses.

Three Years in Hell: The Brexit Chronicles
by Fintan O'Toole
Published 5 Mar 2020

He is a product of the tight little world of English class privilege in which the same people move from elite schools to elite universities to (often interchangeable) careers in politics and the media. (Johnson’s contemporaries at Oxford included David Cameron, a fellow member of the aggressively elitist Bullingdon Club; his own main rivals for the Tory leadership, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove; and the political editors of the BBC and Channel 4 who now report on him.) From Oxford he soon sailed into a position as a graduate trainee at The Times. It was there that he learned a valuable lesson: it pays to fabricate stories.

The Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times
by Lionel Barber
Published 5 Nov 2020

WEDNESDAY, 31 MARCH David Cameron breezes through the door of his private office in the House of Commons. He is tieless, wearing a white shirt and casual black trousers. No sign of the Eton mess jacket he wore as a schoolboy, nor the bespoke tailored tailcoat in navy blue, with matching velvet collar, offset with a mustard waistcoat and sky blue tie which he wore as a member of the Bullingdon Club in his student days in Oxford. David William Donald Cameron wants to be an Average Dave for the day. He’s preparing for power, eager to impress the FT, aware that we have yet to signal our preference in the coming election. I’m joined in the interview by George Parker, the FT’s political editor, former Brussels bureau chief and fellow cyclist.

Londongrad: From Russia With Cash; The Inside Story of the Oligarchs
by Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley
Published 22 Jul 2009

Later, reports emerged that during this dinner Mandelson had ‘dripped pure poison’ about Gordon Brown into the ear of Osborne, who was then fingered as the source for these damaging allegations (Mandelson insisted ‘there was no poison being dripped’). By the following day, Sunday 24 August, the Osbornes had moved into Chateau Rothschild. The Shadow Chancellor had known Nat Rothschild since they were contemporaries at Colet Court preparatory school and then Oxford, where they were both members of the Bullingdon Club. Given the unpopularity of the Labour government at the time, Rothschild perhaps saw his old friend as a potential ally. That evening the investment banker invited Osborne, the Conservative fundraiser Andrew Feldman, and James Goodwin, a former adviser to President Clinton, for drinks. Then, according to Rothschild, Osborne invited Feldman to accompany him on Deripaska’s yacht to solicit a donation to the Conservative Party.

Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain's Battle With Coronavirus
by Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott
Published 18 Mar 2021

Hospital staff were instructed to review all patients twice a day and ask themselves: ‘Why not home? Why not today?’ Stevens had a long-standing connection with the prime minister stretching back decades. The pair had been unlikely friends after meeting at Balliol College, Oxford, where they studied in the mid-1980s. Johnson, an old Etonian and a former member of the Bullingdon Club, the notorious all-male dining society, was politically centre-right, while Stevens, known as ‘Simes’, had been educated at a Birmingham comprehensive school and was a member of the Labour Club. Yet their friendship was forged during a trip to America with the Oxford Union debating society.4 Many years later, when standing to be Conservative Party leader in 2019, Johnson described how Stevens had helped him get elected as union president in 1986.

Why We Can't Afford the Rich
by Andrew Sayer
Published 6 Nov 2014

As Colin Ley puts it, ‘global financial markets are supposed to register the collective judgement of the owners of capital about how profitable it is to operate in a given country where all factors, including the risk of adverse government policies, are taken into account’ (Ley, C. (2001) Market driven politics, London: Verso, p 21). 7 Johnson is the Mayor of London and, like Cameron, a former member of the exclusive Oxford Bullingdon Club (in other words, gang), whose members used to get drunk and run round Oxford and smash up restaurants – with impunity. See also Huffington Post UK (2013) ‘Is being a banker genetic? Boris Johnson looks to intelligence to explain equality gap’, 28 November, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11/28/iq-intelligence-boris-johnson-_n_4355372.html. 8 Bourdieu, P. (1993) Sociology in question, London: Sage, p 14. 9 Chakrabortty, A. (2013) ‘Looking for a party funding scandal: try David Cameron’s Conservatives’, Guardian, 8 July, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/08/party-funding-scandal-david-cameron-conservatives. 10 Froud, J. et al. (2012) ‘Groundhog Day: elite power, democratic disconnects and the failure of financial reform in the UK’, CRESC Working Paper No 108, University of Manchester, p 16, http://www.cresc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Groundhog%20Day%20Elite%20power,%20democratic%20disconnects%20and%20the%20failure%20of%20financial%20reform%20in%20the%20UK%20CRESC%20WP108%20(Version%202).pdf. 11 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (2011) ‘Tory Party funding from City doubles under Cameron’, 8 February, http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/02/08/city-financing-of-the-conservative-party-doublesunder-cameron/. 12 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (2011) ‘Hedge funds, financiers and private equity make up 27% of Tory funding’, 30 September, http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/09/30/hedgefunds-financiers-and-private-equity-tycoons-make-up-27-of-tory-funding/. 13 Hutton, W. (2010) Them and us, London: Little, Brown, p 179. 14 Powerbase (2001) ‘New Labour: donors’, http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/New_Labour:_Donors. 15 Peston, R. (2008) ‘Pointing fingers at the plutocrats’, Telegraph, 26 January, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/2783334/Pointing-fingers-at-the-plutocrats.html. 16 Wintour, P. (2013) ‘Labour backer says £1.65m donation was given in shares to avoid tax’, Guardian, 6 June, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/06/labour-party-backer-donation-tax.