Bullingdon Club

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File:This photo of David Cameron and Boris Johnson, and friends of theirs in their Bullingdon Club livery, and similar photos, have been widely reproduced and commented upon.jpg
This photo of David Cameron and Boris Johnson, and friends of theirs in their Bullingdon Club livery, have been widely reproduced and commented upon... (1) Edward Sebastian Grigg, (2) David Cameron, (3) Ralph Perry Robinson, (4) Ewen Fergusson, (5) Matthew Benson, (6) Sebastian James, (7) Jonathan Ford, (8) Boris Johnson, Harry Eastwood.
File:Who doctored the toffs....jpg
Journalist Peter Hitchens noted that this photo of members of the Bullingdon Club, taken in the early 1990s, has been doctored. At least two individuals images have been incompletely airbrushed out of the image. Individuals in the photo include George Osborne, Nathaniel Rothschild, Harry Mount, Jason Gissing, Chris Coleridge, Lupus von Maltzahn, Peter Holmes a Court and the late Mark Petre.[1]

The Bullingdon Club is a long-established club for students at the University of Oxford.[2]

Originally founded as a club to support sports, at Oxford, like cricket, by the late 20th century, its members were notorious for vandalism, sexism, drunken rowdiness, and elitism.[2] By the 21st century the bad behaviour of club members, like future Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom David Cameron and Boris Johnson had caused the club membership to dwindle.[3] In 2018 the Oxford Conservative Party Association barred Club members from leadership positions within the Association.[4]

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.[2]

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.[5] Ferguson was the 173 choice in a ranking of possible candidates for committee membership.[6]

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.[7] Mount is the author of "The Wit and Wisdom of Boris Johnson".

The club was mocked by Evelyn Waugh in Brideshead Revisited and Decline and Fall, and in the 2014 film The Riot Club.[8][2]

Members include

Members include
name period notes
Prince of Wales 1913 His mother Queen Mary, forced him to resign.[9]
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany 1870s Queen Victoria's youngest son[10]
Rama VI 1900s King of Siam (1881–1925)[11]
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia 1910s [12]
Edward VIII 1920s Prince of Wales[13] of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the British Dominions Beyond the Seas (1894–1972)
Frederick IX of Denmark 1920s [13]
Charles Douglas-Home, 12th Earl of Home 1850s Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire (1890–1915) and Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire (1879–1880)
Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin 1860s [14]
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery 1860s [15]
Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long 1870s [16]
William Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough 1870s [13]
George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston 1880s [13]
George Gibbs, 1st Baron Wraxall 1890s [17]
Prince Felix Yussupov 1900s [18]
Prince Serge Obolensky (1890–1978)[19]
Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch 1910s [20]
Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford 1920s [21]
Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington 1930s [22]
John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch 1940s [23]
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu 1940s Left Oxford in 1945 after a fight with the Dramatic Club left his room wrecked.[24]
David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie 1940s [25]
Timothy Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley 1940s [26]
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath 1950s [27]
Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo 1950s [25]
Michael Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian 1950s Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (2001–2005) and Chairman of the Conservative Party (1998–2001)[28]
Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch 1970s [25]
Count Gottfried von Bismarck 1980s [29]
Shivraj Singh of Jodhpur 1990s [25]
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.[31][32]
Nathaniel Rothschild 1990s A hedge fund financier.[31] 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.[33][34]
Chris Coleridge 1990s From the Coleridge family of publishers, he founded a firm that successfully marketed "vitamin water".[34]
Lupus von Maltzahn 1990s A German from a family with inherited wealth.[34]
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.[34]
Peter Holmes a Court 1990s A theatre empressario and owner of a Rugby club.[34]
Michael Gove 1990s "Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, former president of the Oxford Union".[35]
Adam Bruce 1990s "Son of the Earl of Elgin and incumbent Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms".[35]
Edward Vaizey 1990s "son of Lord Vaizey and the Shadow Minister for Culture".[35]
Nicholas Boles 1990s "Founder of Think Tank Policy Exchange, and conservative activist."[35]
Steven Hilton 1990s "director of strategy for Cameron and godfather of Cameron’s children."[35]
Robin Leigh Pemberton 1990s Later served as Governor of the Bank of England.[36]

Rough work

[34]

[37]

[35]


[31]


[32]


[6]

[4]

[7]

[3]

[5]

[8]

[2]

[33]

References

  1. ↑ Peter Hitchens. Who doctored the toffs?, Mail on Sunday, 2008-10-25. 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.” mirror
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 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
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 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
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 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
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 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.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 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.”
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 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
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 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
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ Charlotte Zeepvat, Prince Leopold: the untold story of Queen Victoria's youngest son, 1998; p. 101.
  11. ↑ Rong Syamananda (1986). A History of Thailand. Chulalongkorn University. 
  12. ↑ Neil Balfour, Sally Mackay (1980). Paul of Yugoslavia: Britain's Maligned Friend. H. Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-10392-0. Retrieved on 2024-04-26. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 J.G. Sinclair (2007). Portrait of Oxford. Read Books. ISBN 978-1-4067-4585-6. 
  14. ↑ Virginia Cowles (1956). Gay Monarch: The Life and Pleasures of Edward VII. Harper & Brothers. Publishers.
  15. ↑ Nicholas Freeman (2011). Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-five. Edinburgh University Press, 55–. ISBN 978-0-7486-4056-0. 
  16. ↑ Walter Long (1923). Memories.
  17. ↑ James Miller, Fertile Fortune: The Story of Tyntesfield, 2006; p. 142
  18. ↑ Prince Yusupoff Defended in Rasputin Case, The New York Times, 14 January 1917.
  19. ↑ Serge Obolensky (1958). One Man in His Time: The Memoirs of Serge Obolensky. McDowell, Obolensky, 110, 116. 
  20. ↑ Serge Obolensky, One man in his time: the memoirs of Serge Obolensky, 1958; p. 86
  21. ↑ The Independent. "The Earl of Longford Template:Webarchive", 6 August 2001.
  22. ↑ The Duke of Wellington – obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 31 December 2014.
  23. ↑ The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, The Independent, 2007-09-06. Retrieved on 2024-04-26. “Having survived U-boats, he went to Christ Church, Oxford and read Modern History. Although he was persuaded to become a member of the supremely toff Bullingdon Club, his experience in the Navy made sure that his life would be far fuller than that of a ne'er-do-well aristocrat.”
  24. ↑ A champion of British heritage: the life and times of Beaulieu's Lord Montagu (From Bournemouth Echo), Bournemouth Echo. “In 1945, he joined the Grenadier Guards and was posted with a peacekeeping force in Palestine. Afterwards, he read modern history at New College Oxford. However, he felt obliged to leave during his second year of university, after an altercation between the Bullingdon Club – of which he was a member – and the Oxford University Dramatic Society led to his room being wrecked.”
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 General Election 2015: Photographic history of Bullingdon Club tracked down – including new picture of David Cameron in his finery, The Independent, 5 May 2015.
  26. ↑ Roth, Andrew. The Rev Lord Beaumont of Whitley, 11 April 2008.
  27. ↑ 7th Marquess of Bath (1999). Career and activities: settling into my undergraduate identity. “...at the start of the Trinity term I was elected into the Bullingdon...”
  28. ↑ Bullingdon Club 1966.
  29. ↑ Count Gottfried von Bismarck Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 2007-07-05. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
  30. ↑ Hugh Grosvenor is the new Duke of Westminster - but who are Britain's other most eligible bachelor aristocrats?, The Daily Telegraph, 2016-08-12. Retrieved on 2024-04-26.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 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.”
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 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.”
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 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”
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 Oxford 1992: Portrait of a 'classless' Tory, Daily Mail, 2007-04-07. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. mirror
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 35.5 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.”
  36. ↑ Tom Mutch. Breaking the Bullingdon Club Omertà: Secret Lives of the Men Who Run Britain, Daily Beast, 2020-07-07. Retrieved on 2024-04-24. “One photo, from 1951, shows the former provost of Eton and ambassador to the United States, Anthony Acland, as well as the former governor of the Bank of England, Robin Leigh Pemberton.”
  37. ↑ SMASH WINDOWS AT OXFORD; Bullingdon Club Students Stage Disorder at Christ Church College., New York Times, 1927-02-23, p. A1. Retrieved on 2022-09-07.
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