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Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK Hardcover – 28 April 2022

by Simon Kuper (Author)

522 ratings

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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.

Eleven of the fifteen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford. 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.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Profile Books
Publication date

28 April 2022
Dimensions

14.2 x 2.79 x 22 cm
ISBN-10

1788167384
ISBN-13

978-1788167383
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From the Publisher

Chums, Oxford University, Simon Kuper, Brexit, Tory party, Conservatives, British politics

Product description

Review

A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters -- Matthew Parris

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 ― 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

Praise for The Happy Traitor:

Kuper provides a different and valuable perspective, humane and informative

-- John Le Carré

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

Book Description

Power. Privilege. Parties. It's a very small world at the top.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Profile Books; Main edition (28 April 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1788167384
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788167383
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.2 x 2.79 x 22 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3 in UK Politics
- 3 in Economic Conditions (Books)
- 4 in British Historical Military Biographies

Customer reviews:
522 ratings

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Simon Kuper

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5 star		58%
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Jacques Hughes

Book length clickbait

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 May 2022

This book is terrible. It’s mendacious (eg claiming rampant homophobia and racism in Oxford JCRs come the 90s - absurd, you’d have been instantly ostracised); it elides time lines (Cameron, Johnson, Rees-Mogg, Hannan, Cummings were each from different Oxford generations; in my time at Oxford Rees-Mogg was the only Etonian prominent in Oxford politics, and he was a novelty act); it keeps contradicting itself (Brexit was brought to you by the Oxford Union - only, as the author later admits, the overwhelming majority of even that nest of public school tories were remainers; Hannan was never a Union hack although he sometimes spoke there; Cummings didn’t participate at all). Its grasp on how the university works is negligible (Norman Stone is portrayed as the dominant figure in the history faculty - in fact he was a marginalised figure with a low ranking chair, despised by the real, and left wing, Oxford establishment). The book is just a cuttings room job, drawn from old “John Evelyn” gossip columns in the university newspaper and articles in the Guardian. And then it culminates in its one “serious” proposal - to close Oxford and Cambridge as undergraduate universities - which is just Dave Spart at his silliest. These are the two best undergraduate teaching universities in the world. All in all, this book just preaches to the choir, to people who have a deepset need to explain Brexit as an elite conspiracy (despite our elite being overwhelmingly remainer), rather than an (albeit flawed) democratic act. Avoid.

82 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bothered and bewildered

Interesting background on the UK's current leadership woes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2022

Simon Kuper was at Oxford shortly after Johnson, and provides much colour and nuance about the small caste, dominated by Old Etonians, of which Johnson is now the most prominent member, and describes their motivation, rise to power, and some of the destructive effects arising from their stewardship of the UK. An easy and entertaining read.

One thought which the books sparked is that the relative stability that UK had enjoyed in the 1990s and 2000s, the end of ideological struggles after 1989 and the rise of managerialism in government, together with the greater opportunities for self-advancement in finance etc, may have made a political career less appealing to many gifted graduates, leaving the field to over-competitive toffs.

I have two criticisms - quite trivially I would have enjoyed some sensational revelations of disgusting Oxford misbehaviour (the Piers Galveston is not mentioned once), but it may be that UK's libel laws acted as a deterrent.

More fundamentally, in the final chapter Kuper proposes remedies that involve reforming Oxford (and Cambridge - relatively blameless in my biassed view), for example by turning it into a post-graduate university only. I fear that the focus on Oxford in the book merely describes a superficial symptom of a much more deep-rooted problem in England, whereby the remnants of a culture of deference towards the upper classes, tolerance of rule-breaking and abuse of institutions, abetted by the right-wing papers, enable such inadequates to rise to lead the country. Much more fundamental changes are needed to stop the UK's degeneration into a banana republic, and unfortunately this can only happen after even greater crises than those that we are experiencing at present

56 people found this helpful

Helpful

Richard Clifford

Excellent read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2022

Verified Purchase

This is a cracking read. So many links. Evidenced. 80s Oxford/2022 Tory govt. At least 1 review above is an obvious attempt at a hit job on this book. Don't be fooled. It's excellent.

25 people found this helpful

Helpful

M C Harding

Explains why England is in such a morbid decline.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 May 2022

Verified Purchase

Cuts right into the rotten heart of the establishment and shines a fierce light into the dark cave of privilege and corruption where monsters like Boris Johnson are spawned.

24 people found this helpful

Helpful

D. Smith

Really interesting book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 May 2022

Verified Purchase

This book provides insights into what is wrong with our country and why we are in such desperate trouble at the moment with the generation of politicians who treat us all as play things.
Interesting other review that states that these vile characters are from different generations. Cameron would have been two years below Johnson, hardly a generation.
What is much more important is the way that they get into Uni., the lack of academic rigour while they are there and the emphasis on becoming ‘upper-class spivs.’
‘We on this side of the house all know each other.’ You bet your life they do.

18 people found this helpful

Helpful

A. Crofts

Brideshead meets What Ho Jeeves

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2022

Verified Purchase

I absolutely loved this. Brideshead meets What Ho Jeeves, and spawns a hilariously inappropriate conservative ruling class for the 21stCentury. Mr Kuper has created an elegant story out of the chaos of the UK’s current political scene.

17 people found this helpful

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paarthur2012

Excellent Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 May 2022

Verified Purchase

Excellent read . It made me realise just the contribution and influence that Oxford University students have made to British politics over the years. . It's like a dynasty. Although amusing in places it's also deeply disturbing.

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

clearercape

Engaging and depressing…

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2022

Verified Purchase

Johnson and his cronies put into stark context and understanding. An insight into how the system perpetuates it’s spelt. Will it ever change?

11 people found this helpful

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