Chums

Kuper, Simon

£9.99

Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Dominic Cummings, Daniel Hannan, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Whitehall is swarming with old Oxonians. They debated each other in tutorials, ran against each other in student elections, and attended the same balls and black tie dinners. They aren’t just colleagues – they are peers, rivals, friends. And, when they walked out of the world of student debates onto the national stage, they brought their university politics with them. Eleven of the fifteen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford. In this book, Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of this narrowest of talent pools – and the friendships and worldviews it created – shaped modern Britain.

In stock

Publish Date: 30/03/2023

Description

Now with a new chapter on the end of the chumocracy era – and Oxford’s upcoming elite for 2050.THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022A TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BEST BOOK OF 2023Power. Privilege. Parties.It’s a very small world at the top.’Brilliant … traces Brexit back to the debating chambers of the Oxford Union in the 1980s’ James O’Brien’A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn’t. It matters’ Matthew Parris’A sparkling firework of a book’ Lynn Barber, Spectator’Exquisite and depressing in equal measure’ Matthew Syed, Sunday TimesBoris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Dominic Cummings, Daniel Hannan, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Whitehall is swarming with old Oxonians. They debated each other in tutorials, ran against each other in student elections, and attended the same balls and black tie dinners. They aren’t just colleagues – they are peers, rivals, friends. And, when they walked out of the world of student debates onto the national stage, they brought their university politics with them. Thirteen of the seventeen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford University. In Chums, Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of this narrowest of talent pools – and the friendships and worldviews it created – shaped modern Britain. A damning look at the university clique-turned-Commons majority that will blow the doors of Westminster wide open and change the way you look at our democracy forever.

Additional information

Weight 209 g
Dimensions 196 × 128 × 18 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

248

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

306.2094109045 (edition:23)

Readership

College – higher education / Code: F