Chums
How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK
Published on 30. March 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-78816-739-0 (ISBN)
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 2022
A TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BEST BOOK OF 2023
Power. 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 Times
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.
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.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022
A TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BEST BOOK OF 2023
Power. 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 Times
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
An extraordinary book ... I got angrier and angrier and angrier as I read it -- Alastair Campbell A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters -- Matthew Parris A devastating portrait of the arrogant rogues and chancers who have spent the past thirteen years playing at politics instead of governing -- Andrew Scull, 'Best Books of 2023' * TLS * A gripping read ... exquisite and depressing in equal measure -- Matthew Syed * Sunday Times * A sparkling firework of a book -- Lynn Barber * Spectator * Incisive, insightful and timely -- Richard Beard * New Statesman * Fascinating ... The picture Kuper draws is of a nation with a decadent and deeply unprofessional ruling class, a diagnosis with which it is impossible to disagree -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times * Immensely entertaining ... a tremendous romp jam-packed with delicious indiscretions -- Tim Luckhurst * Daily Mail * A brilliant book -- John Harris * Guardian Weekly Politics podcast * A penetrating analysis of the connections that enabled an incestuous university network to dominate Westminster and give birth to Brexit ... perceptive and full of surprises -- Tim Adams * Observer * Johnson, Cameron, Rees-Mogg, Gove and Cummings all feature in this look at the hidden depths of our current political establishment and its inextricable link to Eton and, in particular, Oxford University -- 50 Best Books for Summer 2022 * Sunday Times * Shows how the culture of Oxford decisively influenced the tone of British politics and led to Brexit. Brilliantly written, it gripped me -- Paschal Donohoe * Irish Times * Kuper is alert to the deficiencies of the Oxford Union style, the tendency to substitute some glib debating point for hard-headed analysis ... Engagingly brief with delightful details -- Andrew Gimson * Conservative Home * Intellectually bracing ... a deep dive into the culture of the upper-crust public schools and university that produced ten of the UK's 15 post-war prime ministers -- Andrew Lynch * Business Post * Elegant, witty, economical ... it is absurd how much influence this tiny, moneyed circle has been able to wield, and deeply depressing -- Zoe Williams * TLS * Chums is not just about the smallness of Britain's privileged elite or the early advantages it enjoys. Simon Kuper goes further ... to critique a system that attaches more importance to winning debates than shaping policy -- Mike Phipps * Labour Hub * The best ever written dissection of the formation for what passes as the modern Tory Party's leadership * Philosophy Football * A snapshot of a time gone by, bringing alive 1980s Oxford in vivid detail ... a thrilling read -- Daniel Dipper * Higher Education Policy Institute * Engaging and detailed ... [This] may be the last generation of such Oxford Tories, yet their policies may well influence the United Kingdom for generations -- Andrew Moravcsik * Foreign Affairs * [A] highly entertaining, and often infuriating examination of the clique of Oxford Tories that gave us Brexit * Irish Times * Praise for The Happy Traitor:Kuper provides a different and valuable perspective, humane and informative -- John Le Carre Truly enthralling ... a deeply human read, wonderfully written, on the foibles of a fascinating, flawed, treacherous and sort of likeable character -- Philippe Sands The most comprehensive and insightful biography to date -- Ben Macintyre Readers who prefer their politics polemical (and Britain in Europe) need look no further than Simon Kuper * Times Best Political and Current Affairs Books of 2022 *
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
202 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78816-739-0 (9781788167390)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Simon Kuper is an author and Financial Times journalist, born in Uganda and raised around the world. An Oxford graduate, he later attended Harvard as a Kennedy Scholar. He has written for the Observer, The Times and Guardian, and is also the author of The Happy Traitor.