Bullingdon Club Britain: The Ransacking of a Nation

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Michael Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian (1945–), Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (2001–2005) and Chairman of the Conservative Party (1998–2001) [64]

Roughly 7% of pupils in the UK attend a private school but at Bristol University, they make up nearly a third of the graduate intake. Most of the so-called elite universities have disproportionately high numbers of private school students, including Oxford and Cambridge, which respectively have 31% and 32% representation from independent schools. At Bristol in 2016, the year Pender began her English degree, the proportion was closer to 40%. In the humdrum age of robo-politicians, technocrats and wonks, Johnson stood out as vivid and real. Like Trump, he provided a kind of personal authenticity against the calculation, caution and double-speak of standard political output. His former chief advisor Dominic Cummings might now characterise him as a crazy “trolley”, careening around the corridors of power. But Cummings must have known this cultivated chaos was seen by many as a breath of fresh air and was a big factor in the unexpectedly large Conservative majority in 2019 that Cummings helped craft. One well-placed Oxford student told me that the club has had a recruiting problem for some time. Because of the huge publicity surrounding the club, the kind of people who want to join are those who want the publicity; an attribute, which in itself, should preclude one from being “sound” enough to be a member. There are other, more respectable societies now, such as the Gridiron, the Stoics or the Frat, which have the Bullingdon parties without the intense scrutiny. The truly ambitious now choose those. One student, well connected in Oxford politics told me that “I can’t understand why so many people I like so much on a personal level get involved with such a nasty institution.” But such is the stigma of the club that he did not want to be named in this piece even on such a tangential level. One young woman remembered with a grimace how a club member took her to a fancy dinner at a country estate, before attempted to court her with the line “you could be Mrs. Buller.” You would be correct in pointing out that elitist rule, of the sort described in this chapter, has been a feature of British politics for centuries. As George Orwell wrote in The Lion and the Unicorn in 1941: “England is the most class-ridden country under the sun. It is a land of snobbery and privilege, ruled largely by the old and silly.” The Crisis in British Journalism Byline Times investigates media monopolies, their proximity to politicians, and how the punditocracy doesn’t hold power to account

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Much like the Bullingdon Club, the infamed Oxford drinking society, Britain is suffering from the actions of an elite whose loyalty to self and the old school tie vastly outweighs its belief in the collective good. David Faber (1961–), Head master of Summer Fields School (2009–) an MP (1992–2001) and the grandson of Harold Macmillan [70]

Understandably, they greeted this with some scepticism and I could never quite articulate the grounds for this paradox. But, two-and-a-half years into his premiership, it’s clear that Johnson vividly displays the problem of a populist prime minister who has no clear project or programme: he is completely dependent on the populace. Having read Classics at Oxford, the habit of adorning his language with arcane references has stayed with Johnson throughout his life and political career.Other past members include former defence minister Alan Clark, broadcaster David Dimbleby and Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer. a b Virginia Cowles (1956). "Gay Monarch: The Life and Pleasures of Edward VII". Harper & Brothers. Publishers. a b c Sparrow, Andrew (4 October 2009). "Cameron 'desperately embarrassed' over Bullingdon Club days". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 May 2016. a b c Byers, David (21 October 2008). "Drunken hellraising for the super-rich – how George Osborne met Nathaniel Rothschild". The Times. London . Retrieved 18 April 2010. Hugh Grosvenor is the new Duke of Westminster - but who are Britain's other most eligible bachelor aristocrats?". The Daily Telegraph. 12 August 2016.

However, there is one such noun that I don’t remember Johnson ever using, which perfectly describes him.Gould, Tom (1 November 2018). "Tories revolt as OUCA President pushes through Bullingdon Club ban". The Oxford Student . Retrieved 27 February 2019. In her first week at Oxford in 1983, she was approached by a member of the club to identify potential recruits – a role she performed throughout her time as an undergraduate. She also had an 18-month relationship with a man who became a president of the club. In her final year at Oxford, she shared a house with Bullingdon members. No qualm of guilt need disturb our smugness – until, that is, we reach the final chapter. At that point those of us in the regions of the UK that consider themselves in need of levelling up have to ask ourselves a hard question about who we are prepared to do business with, whose dirty money we are prepared to take, to achieve our aim. Saudi money The club was active in Oxford in 2008/9, although not registered with the University. In his retirement speech as proctor, Professor of Geology Donald Fraser noted an incident which, not being on University premises, was outside their jurisdiction: "some students had taken habitually to the drunken braying of 'We are the Bullingdon' at 3 a.m. from a house not far from the Phoenix Cinema. But the transcript of what they called the wife of the neighbour who went to ask them to be quiet was written in language that is not usually printed". [31]

In fact, they blame Britain’s relative decline on the evolution of the welfare state – which has protected Brits from hunger, disease and deprivation – and the social democratic consensus that emerged in the post-war years. Now regions like the North East too are providing a favoured location for investment by ethically dubious individuals and regimes, not in mansions but in the potentially hugely profitable green industries of the futureSoon after taking the top job, Truss spoke of an “anti-growth coalition” standing opposed to economic reform. She said this included “Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, the militant unions, the vested interests dressed up as think tanks, the Brexit deniers, and Extinction Rebellion.”