Bullingdon Club

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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]
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.[11][12]
Nathaniel Rothschild 1990s A hedge fund financier.[11] 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.[13][14]
Chris Coleridge 1990s From the Coleridge family of publishers, he founded a firm that successfully marketed "vitamin water".[14]
Lupus von Maltzahn 1990s A German from a family with inherited wealth.[14]
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.[14]
Peter Holmes a Court 1990s A theatre empressario and owner of a Rugby club.[14]
Michael Gove 1990s "Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, former president of the Oxford Union".[15]
Adam Bruce 1990s "Son of the Earl of Elgin and incumbent Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms".[15]
Edward Vaizey 1990s "son of Lord Vaizey and the Shadow Minister for Culture".[15]
Nicholas Boles 1990s "Founder of Think Tank Policy Exchange, and conservative activist."[15]
Steven Hilton 1990s "director of strategy for Cameron and godfather of Cameron’s children."[15]
Robin Leigh Pemberton 1990s Later served as Governor of the Bank of England.[16]

Rough work

[14]

[17]

[15]


[11]


[12]


[6]

[4]

[7]

[3]

[5]

[8]

[2]

[13]

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. 11.0 11.1 11.2 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.”
  12. 12.0 12.1 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.”
  13. 13.0 13.1 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”
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Oxford 1992: Portrait of a 'classless' Tory, Daily Mail, 2007-04-07. Retrieved on 2022-09-07. mirror
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 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.”
  16. 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.”
  17. 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.