Although keen to portray himself as a kind of pale British Obama, David Cameron’s party’s kindred spirit over the Atlantic is, in fact/of course, the Republican Party. And you’d be shocked (or perhaps you wouldn’t) at how many Tory party members and prospective Tory candidates are vehement Bush/McCain supporters (see my doc on the new young Tories for proof). So perhaps a good way to gauge what we’re in for when the Conservatives come to power next year is to compare the family trees of Yale University’s Skull and Bones society and Oxford’s Bullingdon Club – the gangbangers of the British and American uber-elite/rich/well connected/extremely annoying.

We all know about the Skull and Bones whose members read like a who’s who of the political and economic elite, with CIA directors, presidents and billionaire bankers all once members (see below for details). But how does The Bullingdon Club shape up in comparison?

 

 

Well, the Skull and Bones society came to increased notoriety/infamy during the presidency of George Bush Junior, perhaps because he so brazenly showered influential jobs on his former frat house buddies (11 in total).

So maybe we are yet to see the full extent of Bullingdon nepotism. Cameron’s already off to a good start though with his chum Osborne as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer/right hand man spending his summer holidays at the Corfu villa of hedge fund banker Nat Rothschild (illegally) soliciting Conservative party donations from Russian billionaires and bitching about Brown with Lord Mandelson.

Nat clearly still has a strong affection for the whole old boys’ club/secret society thing and enjoys hosting giant sleepover parties for a colourful array of world leaders and money men at his pad in Corfu every summer. Among these is Colonel Gaddafi’s son Saif, who met Lord Mandelson there earlier this summer, paving the way for the release of convicted terrorist Al Megrahi’s and some lucrative Libyan oil contracts.

Then there’s the predictable array of merchant bankers and hedge fund mangers (quelle surprise that Boris Johnson is such a vocal supporter of the big banking bonus). Then there’s the occasional odd-ball like Darius Guppy, the insurance fraudster/jewel thief, who once convinced his old Bullingdon buddy Boris to agree to give up the address of a News of the World journalist that he wanted to have beaten up. And that really says everything you need to know about the allegiances of secret society frat boys.

 

 

Suffice it to say that Bullingdon boys look after their own… and their own sure ain’t factory workers, teachers, nurses, or single mums on benefits. Britain watch out.

Credits: Heydon Prowse, Hanne Christiansen and Peter Moffat