The Bullingdon Club

Never heard of the Bullingdon Club? Shame on you, I can only assume you are American or a member of the Great Unwashed. The Bullingdon Club is a an exclusive dining club for toffs at Oxford University, it has even been described as the "acme of exclusiveness". Its members are famous or infamous for their wealth and destructive binges. Membership is by invitation only, and way too expensive for most students, as you have to pay for dinners, the uniform and damages.

The Bullingdon Club was founded over 200 years ago in 1780 as a hunting and cricket club. The emphasis on eating emerged in the late 19th century. Back in1875 there were frequent cricket matches and "the Bullingdon Club dinners were the occasion of a great display of exuberant spirits, accompanied by a considerable consumption of the good things of life, which often made the drive back to Oxford an experience of exceptional nature". In 1876 it is reported that the "cricket was secondary to the dinners, and the men were chiefly of an expensive class". The fame of the Bullingdon Club even crossed the Atlantic Ocean as in 1913 the New York Times reported "The Bullingdon Club represents the acme of exclusiveness at Oxford; it is the club of the sons of nobility, the sons of great wealth".

The Modern-Day Bullingdon Club

The modern-day Bullingdon Club is primarily a dining club, although members do occasionally take part in sporting events. The President of the Bullingdon Club is known as the General.

The Club often operates by booking a private dining room (under a different name) as restaurants are generally well aware of the Club's reputation for drunken rampages during or after the dinners. Although this varies year to year as the members change.

The two most well-known modern-day former members of the Bullingdon Club are David Cameron current Leader of the Tory Party and probable next British Prime Minister and Boris Johnson another Tory and current Mayor of London.

Andrew Gimson, who wrote a biography of Boris Johnson, said about the Bullingdon Club in the 1980s: "I don't think an evening would have ended without a restaurant being trashed and being paid for in full, very often in cash. [...] A night in the cells would be regarded as being par for a Buller man and so would debagging (An act of removal of the trousers) anyone who really attracted the irritation of the Buller men".

In recent years, dinners have been more low key but in 2004 a 15th century pub in Oxfordshire suffered considerable damage during a dinner, and four members were arrested. - BBC.

Bullingdon Club Dress
The 'uniform' of the Bullingdon Club for their annual Club dinner is a traditional tailcoat in Oxford blue with ivory coloured silk lapel revers, brass monogrammed buttons, a mustard waistcoat, and a sky blue bow tie. In addition there is a sky blue striped with ivory Club tie. The full uniform costs in the region of £3,000.

The Bullingdon Club is an official Club of the University of Oxford but on occasion the rowdiness of members' activities have caused the University proctors to suspend the Club. In 1938 John Betjeman wrote that "quite often the Club is suspended for some years after each meeting" althought that doesn't stop them meeting in secret of course.

The Bullingdon Club has been mentioned in works of fiction such as Evelyn Waugh's novel Decline and Fall (1928) where it was called the Bollinger Club, due to the penchant of its members for champagne. Evelyn Waugh also refers to the Bullingdon by name in Brideshead Revisited.

Just recently David Cameron and George Osborne (probable future Chancellor of the Exchequer) separately said they were deeply embarrassed at membership of the Bullingdon Club. I don't know whether Boris Johnson has expressed any similar regrets, but would be surprised if he did. Boris likes to play up his toffiness and general buffoonery and he is not so PC as Cameron who is after all trying his hardest to climb the greasy pole to very top. Boris may also be trying to get higher than Mayor of London but given the peculiarity of his personality it is hard to see how the Tories will ever trust him with a major cabinet position.

To sum up the Bullingdon Club let me just say that it epitomizes the individuals that continue to pull the strings in Britain. Toby Daniel Moorsom Young of the Daily Mail says it much better than I could though - "The lesson each generation of Bright Young Things is taught at Oxford .... is that you don’t have to be to the manor born to become a member of Britain’s ruling class – or even particularly clever.

You don’t need charisma or sexual confidence or a sense of entitlement. All you need is the wherewithal to pretend to be someone who has these qualities. Provided you can do a reasonable impression of a person with the right stuff – and provided you wear the right uniform – that’s enough to propel you to the top. ....

The discovery that all these young pretenders make when they take their seats at the Cabinet table, or become QCs ..... is that the people at the very pinnacle of British society – ..... – are exactly like them.

There is no such thing as the real McCoy, just a bunch of schoolboys parading around in the contents of the dressing-up box. They don’t feel like frauds, because everyone else in this elite little club is as fraudulent as they are."