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The Oxford Shuffle

  • Michael Crick
  • 16 Jun 08, 01:11 PM

A little noticed fact from last week's Conservative mini-reshuffle is that all three of David Cameron's most important front bench colleagues - George Osborne (Treasury), William Hague (Foreign Affairs) and now Dominic Grieve (Home Affairs) - went to Magdalen College, Oxford. I wonder if this has ever happened before in the history of British politics?

This quirk is a little unfortunate perhaps for a party trying to stress its new inclusivity under David Cameron. But then Labour failed dismally in its efforts to exploit the toff factor in the London mayoral race and in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.

In my time at Oxford, in the late 1970s, Magdalen was the faction in the University Conservative Association (OUCA) which included most of the more right-wing Thatcherite members, and they ran a powerful machine in student politics. Left-wing Tories such as the Conservative's current immigration spokesman, Damian Green, were associated with Balliol.

A number of weekend papers have reported on the famous incident in the autumn of 1977 when a bunch of Magdalen men, somewhat the worse for drink, dumped Damian Green into the Cherwell River after he had visited the college one evening for dinner. And this gang of Magdalen hearties included Dominic Grieve, who has just taken over as Green's boss in the Conservative Home Affairs team.

I was editor of the Oxford University newspaper (also called Cherwell) at the time and recall running the story as a front-page splash (as it were). I'll try and obtain a copy of the article for the blog as soon as I can.


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  • 1. At 1:51pm on 16 Jun 2008, Dennis wrote:

    The Oxford Shuffle:

    It is nice to know that they went to a good programme for a high level education...

    Please find the link for the story...

    Thanks :)

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  • 2. At 1:52pm on 16 Jun 2008, thegangofone wrote:

    At least - I think - Hague came from a modest background.

    Hooraa!


    By the way I am probably in stupid mode but who is "I" up there at Magdalen?

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  • 3. At 1:53pm on 16 Jun 2008, Undermouse wrote:

    Gosh, this was an interesting story. I certainly feel a lot better briefed after having read it.

    My only criticism is that all this talk about drunks, rivers and boisterous behaviour by young men seems a bit too racy, even for these modern times. I can prevent my wife and daughters from reading it - but will the people who live on rough council estates be sufficently motivated to do the same ?

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  • 4. At 2:29pm on 16 Jun 2008, Seanpara wrote:

    'I can prevent my wife and daughters from reading it' - but can you prevent your servants?

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  • 5. At 3:17pm on 16 Jun 2008, Chivers09 wrote:

    The country needs a healthy dose of Right Wing politics.

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  • 6. At 3:19pm on 16 Jun 2008, midnightPantsman wrote:

    Seduce my ancient footwear

    And that nice Nick Cohen from the Standard he went to Oxford too -the one your editor refers to in his latest blog ! small world !

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  • 7. At 3:34pm on 16 Jun 2008, thegangofone wrote:

    I just get the feeling that Newsnight bloggers aren't into the Brideshead Revisited thing. Am I being cruel?

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  • 8. At 4:59pm on 16 Jun 2008, iandfox wrote:

    Poor Mr Cameron, Eton, Oxford and now reduced to going to work on a bike............with attendants of course.

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  • 9. At 7:04pm on 16 Jun 2008, blogitoergosum wrote:

    Perhaps someone should expose the number of Manchester United supporters working on Newsnight.

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  • 10. At 8:16pm on 16 Jun 2008, britom wrote:

    Is this the best you can do Mr Crick? You seem to have time on your hands if you can waste it on this drivel. Or were you just looking for an excuse to tell us that you were at Oxford?

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  • 11. At 09:09am on 17 Jun 2008, Billbradbury wrote:

    britom, you are a miserable old sod. I enjoyed the read and the comments above.
    So Michael Crick went to Oxford? We all can't be so unlucky!!

    I will get back to racing my whippets.

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  • 12. At 1:42pm on 17 Jun 2008, olivermarre wrote:

    Was it in "a number of weekend papers"? Oh dear - I thought I exclusively re-unearthed it in my Observer column, Pendennis... I still can't see it anywhere else. But: thanks, Michael, for covering it in Cherwell in the first place - I assume that is why it has been remembered for all these years.

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  • 13. At 5:18pm on 17 Jun 2008, midnightPantsman wrote:

    More items that never appeared in Cherwell but were used in glory this year

    Although he said they were not close friends, Crick remembered that Bhutto was always very friendly towards him !

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