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The Bullingdon Club is a long-established club for students at the University of Oxford.[1]
Originally founded as a sports club in the 19th century, it became notorious for vandalism, sexism, drunken rowdiness, and elitism.[1] By the 21st century the degenerate behaviour of club members — including future Tory ministers like Cameron, Osborne, Gove, and Johnson — had caused the club membership to dwindle.[2] In 2018, the Oxford Conservative Party Association barred Club members from leadership positions within the Association.[3]
When Johnson was Prime Minister he was criticized for appointing individuals, who had been his friends in the club, to posts for which they seem unqualified.[1]
Johnson was widely criticized for appointing former Bullingdon Club member Ewen Fergusson to the Committee on Standards in Public Life - a committee intended to rout out corrupt activities.[4] Ferguson was the 173 choice in a ranking of possible candidates for committee membership.[5]
Even after the earlier criticism for appointing other friends of his, on September 2, 2022 - less than a week before his scheduled retirement as Prime Minister, Johnson appointed former club member Harry Mount to the House of Lords appointments commission.[6] Mount is the author of The Wit and Wisdom of Boris Johnson, which is not a satire.
The club was mocked by Evelyn Waugh in Brideshead Revisited and Decline and Fall, and in the 2014 film The Riot Club.[7][1]
Members include
Members include
| name |
period |
notes
|
| Prince of Wales |
1913 |
His mother Queen Mary, forced him to resign.[8]
|
| Edward Sebastian Grigg |
1980s |
|
| David Cameron |
1980s |
Later served as Prime Minister.
|
| Ralph Perry Robinson |
1980s |
|
| Ewen Fergusson |
1980s |
|
| Matthew Benson |
1980s |
|
| Sebastian James |
1980s |
|
| Jonathan Ford |
1980s |
|
| Boris Johnson |
1980s |
Later served as Prime Minister.
|
| Harry Eastwood |
1980s |
|
| George Osborne |
1990s |
Served as Chancellor of the Exchequer.[9][10]
|
| Nathaniel Rothschild |
1990s |
A hedge fund financier.[9] Had a high-profile breach in his friendship with fellow Bullingdon member George Osborne.
|
| Jason Gissing |
1990s |
A founder of Ocado, a successful online grocery delivery service.[11][12]
|
| Chris Coleridge |
1990s |
From the Coleridge family of publishers, he founded a firm that successfully marketed "vitamin water".[12]
|
| Lupus von Maltzahn |
1990s |
A German from a family with inherited wealth.[12]
|
| Mark Petre |
1990s |
Heir to a hereditary title, died in 2004, if his father had pre-deceased him he would have been the 19th Baron Petre.[12]
|
| Peter Holmes a Court |
1990s |
A theatre empressario and owner of a Rugby club.[12]
|
| Michael Gove |
1990s |
"Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, former president of the Oxford Union".[13]
|
| Adam Bruce |
1990s |
"Son of the Earl of Elgin and incumbent Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms".[13]
|
| Edward Vaizey |
1990s |
"son of Lord Vaizey and the Shadow Minister for Culture".[13]
|
| Nicholas Boles |
1990s |
"Founder of Think Tank Policy Exchange, and conservative activist."[13]
|
| Steven Hilton |
1990s |
"director of strategy for Cameron and godfather of Cameron’s children."[13]
|
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
Harriet Sherwood. Sexism, vandalism and bullying: inside the Boris Johnson-era Bullingdon Club, The Guardian, 2019-07-07. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “Now new light has been shed on the outrageous antics of the Bullingdon Club – the Oxford University group that may be about to produce its second British prime minister – by someone intimately connected to it during Boris Johnson’s membership.”
mirror
- ↑
Brian Wheeler. David Cameron: Life and times of new UK Prime Minister, BBC News, 2010-05-11. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “He was captain of Brasenose College's tennis team and a member of the Bullingdon dining club, famed for its hard drinking and bad behaviour, an episode Mr Cameron has always refused to talk about.”
mirror
- ↑
Barbara Ellen. The Bullingdon is on its uppers. Let’s all celebrate by trashing a restaurant, The Guardian, 2018-10-14. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “While past members include David Cameron, Boris Johnson and George Osborne, people recently invited to join the Bullingdon have been turning it down, those who join are branded “losers” and, in 2016, it was said to be on the brink of closure for lack of members.”
mirror
- ↑
Rachel Wearmouth. Boris Johnson's Bullingdon club 'chum' selected out of 173 applicants for sleaze watchdog, The Mirror, 2021-08-02. Retrieved on 2022-09-07.
- ↑
Jon Stone. Government passed over 171 candidates to pick Bullingdon Club ‘chum’ of Boris Johnson for sleaze watchdog role, The Independent, 2021-08-02. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “The longtime friend of the prime minister was appointed to scrutinise him after an advisory panel had “carefully considered all applications”, she said.”
- ↑
Matthew Weaver, Henry Dyer. Boris Johnson gives peerages job to author of book on his ‘wit and wisdom’, The Guardian, 2022-09-02. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “Boris Johnson has sparked fresh accusations of cronyism after choosing the author of a book on his 'wit and wisdom' to help oversee the appointment of new peers to the House of Lords.”
mirror
- ↑
Eleanor Bley Griffiths. Did Decline and Fall's Bollinger Club really exist? Evelyn Waugh and his Bullingdon Club inspiration, Radio Times, 2017-03-31. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “The Bollinger Club is, of course, a barely-concealed version of the real-life Bullingdon Club.”
mirror
- ↑
WALES IN TROUBLE OVER CLUB SUPPER; Queen Mary Orders the Prince to Resign from the Lively Bullingdon at Oxford., New York Times, 1913-05-28. Retrieved on 2022-09-07.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1
The whiff of scandal stinks in crisis-struck U.K., New York Times, 2008-10-22. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “As for the 37-year-old Osborne, who has been a member of Parliament since the age of 30, he and Rothschild were close friends at Oxford where they belonged to the elite Bullingdon club, an exclusive drinking society whose celebrated wild parties sometimes ended with the destruction of the restaurant or pub where they were held.”
- ↑
Landon Thomas Jr.. In Britain, a Soaring Deficit Lifts a Hawk, New York Times, 2009-10-16, p. B1. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “Mr. Cameron, who is close to Mr. Osborne and comes from a similar background, has transcended the ignominy of his membership in the Bullingdon Club, the elite drinking enclave at Oxford. By contrast, Mr. Osborne seems far less removed from the haughty picture of himself and his club members, garbed in bow ties and tails, that has come to define the view that the recast Conservatives still lack a common touch.”
- ↑
Steve Busfield. George Osborne, Nat Rothschild and the curious case of a Bullingdon Club picture, The Guardian, 2008-10-26. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “To the left of the middle, there's a mysterious gap where somebody ought to be standing but isn't. Odder still, there's a patch of shirt-front and waistcoat there, with no person attached”
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4
Oxford 1992: Portrait of a 'classless' Tory, Daily Mail, 2007-04-07. Retrieved on 2022-09-07.
mirror
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4
The Bullingdon Club, Iconic photos, 2010-03-14. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. “Two figures on left of (6) and (7) were blacked out before the photo was released, causing wild allegations. Their identities are yet unknown.”
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