Bullingdon Club

Monday, Oct 27 2008

Riddle of the two missing hellraisers: Was George Osborne Bullingdon Club picture doctored - and why?

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:32 AM on 27th October 2008

Dripping with privilege and arrogance, it is an image the Tories have been desperate to downplay.

Yet their embarrassment over the picture of George Osborne in a notorious Oxford University drinking club intensified yesterday.

Two ghostly figures appear to be lurking alongside the future Shadow Chancellor and his fellow members of the hellraising Bullingdon Club.

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Drinking buddies: The Bullingdon club and their spirits (click to enlarge)

The mystery over the snap from 1992 led to speculation yesterday that it might have been doctored.

Near the middle of the picture is the lining of one of the £1,000 tail coats worn by club members. Yet no one is attached to it.

There is also what appears to be a disembodied shirt lapel.

Last night Bullingdon Club members said they did not believe anyone was missing from the photo.

 

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But, in an intriguing twist, Chris Coleridge confirmed that the published version of the picture - with the apparitions - is the same as his member's copy.

He told the Daily Mail: 'I just looked again at the version I have and they are the same: both those things are in the picture.

'It is really weird. I can only assume that it is something the original photographer in Oxford did at the time. As far as I can remember we are all in the picture.

'I don't think anyone has been taken out. It must be just one of those things. It is possible the phantom figures in the pictures were accidentally added because of teething problems with digital technology, which was in its infancy when the photograph was taken.'

A similar picture of the Bullingdon Club from 1987, featuring Tory leader David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson, was described by critics as 'Lord Snooty and his pals'.

After the furore following its publication, permission to show it was withdrawn by the Oxford photographers, Gillman & Soame.

The Bullingdon Club, infamous for wrecking restaurants and other riotous behaviour, is open only to the super-rich and the sons of aristocratic families.

Mr Osborne joined as a student at Magdalen College, together with Nat Rothschild, who last week accused him of trying to solicit a £50,000 political donation from a Russian billionaire.

During his time in the Bullingdon Club, he was reportedly nicknamed 'Oik' because he had gone to St Paul's public school instead of Eton or Harrow. A popular lark among his fellow Buller men was to hold him upside-down by the ankles by and scream: 'Who are you?'

After several 'wrong' answers, each followed by Mr Osborne being dropped on his head, he was finally released after squealing: 'I am a despicable ****.'

Former members maintain a strict code of silence about their activities. Their unity was shattered last week however when Mr Rothschild made his claims, which are denied by the Shadow Chancellor.

They are among only eight of the 20 students in the Bullingdon photograph to have been identified.

The eight are:

1 George Osborne, eldest son of baronet Sir Peter Osborne, a wallpaper magnate.

2 Harry Mount, journalist son of Sir Ferdinand Mount, another baronet. Formerly a lawyer and Latin teacher, he has written two books. He works for Reader's Digest and writes for the Daily Mail.

3 Chris Coleridge, descendant of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. At Oxford he launched a racy student magazine with Mr Rothschild which featured a guide on how to steal cars. In 2005, he launched V Water, a vitaminenhanced drink.

4 Lupus von Maltzhan, management-consultant at Accenture and a relative of the private banker Bruno Schroder. He owns an estate in Scotland where he flies planes and breeds pigs.

5 Mark Petre, Petre, son of the 18th Baron Petre. After leaving Oxford he edited International Homes, a glossy property magazine. In 2004 he died after an overdose of the sedative temazepam at his family's stately home in Essex. He was awaiting trial for driving under the influence of drugs.

6 Peter Holmes a Court, son of billionaire businessman Robert Holmes a Court, whose investment firm he runs. In 2001, he sold his family's theatre group to Lord Lloyd-Webber. He owns an Australian rugby team with actor Russell Crowe.

7 Nat Rothschild, Rothschild, ultra-rich only son of Jacob Rothschild, the fourth Baron Rothschild. He had a wayward start in life, marrying a model he met on a beach in India. He has since turned his back on alcohol and runs the Atticus hedge fund, which invests in Russia.

3 Jason Gissing, one of three founders of the upmarket grocery delivery company Ocado. The company is valued at £272million.

 Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below?

       

I like Mike Randall's comment: "I wonder if any of them actually have the brains to to be able to change a light bulb."

That's the thing about the seriously rich - they are all unbelievably stupid. I mean, that's how they got to be so rich. Er... hang on... that can't be right... er...

- Dan, Leicester, UK, 27/10/2008 11:47

       

So we must look at Working Mens Clubs next. Oh, sorry I forgot that they are sexist.
Oxbridge is what the Labour lefty politicians want their offspring to join. Do socialists give their money away and not leave it to their children?
The politics of envy has always been the Labour way.
I want someone to look after the country's money who can leave the electorate in a better state than when they came into office. Not like this shambles of a government.

- Lyn, Northampton, England, 27/10/2008 11:41

       

sounds like a lot of jelousy on the posts. people are allowed to be wild in their young days if they want and even in their old if they are foolish enough to do so. there are working class people who act like fools but no one really seems to mind but if the rich do it then people are dumb founded by the whole thing. get over it and move on. there are more important things going on in this world than who gets accepted into an exclusive club or not.

- bella, leicestershire, 27/10/2008 11:28