The Gentlemen's Clubs of London
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The Gentlemen’s Clubs of London By Anthony Lejeune (Stacey International £40) REVIEWS his is a new edition of a delightful book, full of diverting T anecdotes, which was published in 1979. Short, sharp text describing all the West End clubs then in existence (plus the MCC) accompanied a rich array of black and white pictures. In this revised version, glorious colour illustrations abound, depicting all the central elements Reviewsof traditional club life: sharp-eyed staff, Secret State encouraged by the Chief Whip. rubicund members, walls festooned with Directed by Ed Fraiman Were the explosion and the plane crash paintings, well-stocked (if not always the work of, wait for it, Muslim terrorists? well-read) libraries, grand staircases, ample here is one word that But hold on – what are we to make of cellars and strange relics (such as the nose sums up Channel 4’s the revelation that the company was cap of a shell which came through the roof T new political drama developing a top secret fuel for military of the Cavalry Club in 1917). Secret State – unbelievable. drone aircraft at the factory? Only one respectable characteristic From the sight of former MP Chris The sad thing about Secret State is pastime is unrepresented: sleep. All the men Mullin dressed as a vicar, to Charles that it is billed as an updated version of who appear here sunk in deep comfortable Dance’s clichéd all-powerful chief whip Chris Mullin’s classic book A Very British armchairs seem to be wide awake. Nor is and Gina McKee as the wise, principled there a woman to be seen even though, as the journalist who comes across more as an The writers have some introduction explains by way of apology for Amnesty activist than a lobby hack, none very important, if naïve, the book’s rather outdated title, “most of the of it adds up. points that they want to clubs described in these pages now give access The way in which politicians and the make to women by one device or another, including press are so embarrassingly misplayed in full membership”. In an age of equality it this sub-Homeland thriller make it hard to would have been better to have celebrated the take it seriously, which is a shame because Coup, the TV adaptation of which is still full part that women can now play in clubs it is obvious that the writers have some regarded as one of the best political dramas like the Reform and the Carlton. very important, if naïve, points that they ever made. The history of clubland goes back to want to make. It is hard to countenance how they 1693 when the Italian adventurer Francesco The Prime Minister (a poor pastiche got it so wrong with Secret State, but for Bianco opened White’s Chocolate House in of David Cameron) is killed when the anyone with even a cursory understanding St James’s Street. Sixty years later the next plane he is travelling back to the UK of Westminster it just does not work. For two immortals appeared: Edward Boodle in goes down in the Atlantic in dodgy example, journalists do not hang around was put in charge of one and William circumstances. The plane is owned by an unaccompanied in Downing St corridors Brooks the other. The Victorians expanded evil American petrochemical company, and have cryptic conversations with the clubland with the same enthusiasm which the same company whose Teesside plant Prime Minister. Inaccuracies and flights of they brought to the Empire. A century ago suffered a massive explosion, devastating fancy such as this make Secret State a poor there were some 200 gentlemen’s clubs of the nearby town. successor to A Very British Coup. varying size and importance with Pall Mall, Deputy Prime Minister Tom Dawkins St James’s Street and Piccadilly as their (a wooden Gabriel Byrne) steps into the heartlands. power vacuum, over the heads of the Tony Grew is Parliamentary Editor of For most of them decline and fall lay Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, www.politicshome.com ahead. Plummeting membership lists and 54 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 6 DECEMBER 2012 WWW.POLITICSHOME.COM rising costs, exacerbated by high infl ation in the 1970s, meant that by the time this book fi rst appeared in 1979, only 49 remained and several of them were moving towards amalgamation or extinction. Thirty have survived to adorn the pages of the new edition. London’s political clubs were conspicuous among the casualties that followed the era of growth. In the nineteenth David Cameron arrives at the St stephen’s Club century Tories and Liberals from all parts following the 2010 General Election of the country descended in their thousands on the clubs which their party managers Journal. The Carlton, the fi rst and greatest headquarters, remains in its Italianate palace provided for them. Demand seemed of Tory clubs, will then reign in solitary in Pall Mall. Members are now required insatiable. When the last Tory club, the splendour with a healthy membership and to do no more than express support for the Junior Conservative, opened in Piccadilly a vigorous programme of political activities principles of the 1832 Reform Act. The more in 1889, it announced that provision conducted in premises that look more venerable and august Brooks’s reveres the would be made for the “large number of impressive today than ever before, as the memory of Charles James Fox, but takes gentlemen who are practically excluded sumptuous pictures of it in this book show. no stance on current affairs. Only at the from participating in the advantages of a The fi rst of them includes one of last year’s National Liberal Club, where Mr Gladstone West-End Club, through the crowded state fl eeting political celebrities, Adam Werritty, of the existing Conservative Clubs”. The whisky glass in hand, and a companion The Victorians destructive, post-war wind of change swept through whom he may perhaps be seeking it away, along with ten other Tory clubs. to advance the interests of Dr Liam Fox. expanded clubland with the Their histories will never be written, for Clubland would be incomplete without at same enthusiasm which they their records vanished with them. least a hint of intrigue. brought to the Empire There were just two survivors, the The Liberal Party, with seven clubs Carlton and the St Stephen’s clubs. The in its heyday, had less to lose than the was worshipped by 6,000 members in 1887, latter only managed to limp on; next month Tories. As the Party declined, its clubs are the old party political traditions to some it will fi nally close its doors, mourned in which were to have a future looked outside extent observed. “The revival of the fortunes a fi ne valedictory article published in the politics for members. The Reform Club, of the Liberal Democrats out of the SDP current edition of the Conservative History founded in 1836 as the Liberal Party’s fi rst brought to the club a new vitality,” Anthony Lejeune tells us. The anecdotes of club life which appear here include my own personal favourite. Two grand guards offi cers found themselves at the Oxford and Cambridge Club which was distinctly unfashionable in its early years. As they “sank into comfortable leather armchairs opposite an elderly member whose face was concealed by the newspaper he was reading, one said to the other: ‘These middle-class fellows know how to do themselves well’. Slowly the newspaper was lowered to reveal the Duke of Wellington, Chancellor of Oxford University”. The Carlton Club was one of a number of London clubs to suffer bomb damage during World War II Lord Lexden is a conservative peer and the offi cial historian of the Carlton Club WWW.POLITICSHOME.COM 6 DECEMBER 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 55.