Boris Johnson,Michael Gove,David Cameron,George Osborne,Theresa May,Dominic Cummings,Daniel Hannan,Jacob Rees-Mogg: Oxford has produced most of the prominent Conservative politicians of our time. The university newspapers of thirty years ago are full of recognisable names in news stories,photos of social events,and Bullingdon Club reports. Many walked straight out of the world of student debates onto the national stage. Unfortunately,they brought their university politics with them.
Eleven of the fifteen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford. This narrowest of talent pools has shaped the modern country. In Chums,Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of Oxford University - and the friendships and worldviews it created - helped give us today's Britain,including Brexit.
Publisher: Profile Books LtdISBN: 9781788167390Number of pages: 256Weight: 200 gDimensions: 196 x 128 x 18 mmEdition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
'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,The Sunday Times
'A sparkling firework of a book'- Lynn Barber,The Spectator
'Incisive,insightful and timely'- Richard Beard,The 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 indiscretions5'- Tim Luckhurst,The 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,The Observer
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
'An enjoyable and lively retelling of a story now largely forgotten'- FT
'A clear and credible account of (a) flawed and enigmatic subject... The most illuminating book yet written about the spy and his defection to the Soviet Union'- Guardian
'The most comprehensive and insightful biography to date'- Ben Macintyre
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