Bullingdon ban for Oxford Conservatives
Raucous all-male club that nurtured Cameron, Osborne and Johnson ‘has no place in modern party’
The Bullingdon Club has been officially shunned by Oxford University’s Conservative Association (OUCA), which says the club has “no place in the modern party”. This week the OUCA added the club – whose former members include David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson – to its list of proscribed organisations. This means that Bullingdon Club members are now banned from holding office in the university’s Conservative Association.
FOR more than 200 years, it has been regarded as one of the most exclusive clubs in the country with invitations to join seen as an indicator of social prestige.
But the all-male Bullingdon Club has now been officially shunned by Oxford University’s Conservative Association (OUCA) as they said the club had “no place in the modern party”.
This week the OUCA added the club – whose former members include David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson – to its list of proscribed organisations. This means that Bullingdon Club members are now banned from holding office in the university’s Conservative Association.
Ben Etty, the OUCA president, told Cherwell, the student newspaper: “The banning of members of the Bullingdon Club from holding office in the association – a club banned by the university and whose values and activities have no place in the modern Conservative Party – will, I hope, show that we are moving towards a more open, welcoming, and tolerant environment for all.”
It is the latest blow to the Bullingdon Club after a series of scandals and satirical productions about the group, with the most recent being the play Posh by Laura Wade, which was adapted for the cinema as The Riot Club.
It was reported in 2004 that members of the club had trashed a pub in Oxford, and it has been rumoured that burning a £50 note in front of a homeless person is part of an initiation ceremony into the group.
Famous for its wealthy members and boisterous rituals – such as vandalising restaurants or college rooms before leaving a cheque to pay for the damage – the private members’ club has fallen out of favour in recent years.
Last year, an Oxford College passed a motion stating that Junior Common Room (JCR) executive members were not permitted to be members of dining societies simultaneously, as they are “secret and exclusive”.
“The presence of exclusive societies like these reinforces the idea that Oxford is not an inclusive space,” students from Queen’s College said at the time.
“We think it’s important we pass this motion to show that this JCR at the very least stands for inclusion. This motion is targeted specifically at the exec because we believe we as exec
‘Every reasonable person thinks it is a joke. If anyone is said to be a member, the reaction is: “What a loser”’
members need to set the standard and embody the values of the rest of the JCR.”
The Daily Telegraph reported in 2016 that the Bullingdon Club was facing up to the prospect of dissolving, because students had started turning down invitations of membership. One Oxford student explained this was because “people don’t want that ostentatious wealth celebration any more”.
Another said: “Every reasonable person thinks it is a joke. People think it is elitist and exclusionary, and if anyone is ever mentioned as being in the Bullingdon, the instant reaction of everyone hearing it is, ‘What a loser’.”
It is believed that potential members have instead turned their attentions to other secretive clubs, such as the Stoics or the Gridiron Club.
The Grid, as it is known, recently voted to allow female members for the first time. It has traditionally been a bigger club – of about 40 students – from which other, more exclusive groups would recruit members, The Telegraph understands.
Recent Oxford graduate Jake Hurfurt, 21, said of the Stoics: “No one knows anything about [them], we just know they exist.
“They swear people to secrecy a hell of a lot better than the Bullingdon Club do.”