Oxford, in those days, was still a city of aquitint.

When the chestnut was in flower, and the bells rang out high and clear over her gables and cupolas,

she exhaled the soft airs of centuries of youth.

It was this cloisteral hush that gave our laughter its resonance and carried it still joyously over the intervening clamor. planning Welcome to

My name is Nathan Robinson.

I am the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs Magazine.

My guest today is Simon Cooper.

He is a writer for the Financial Times,

and the author of the book, Chums,

how a tiny cast of Oxford Tories took over the UK.

Simon, thank you so much for joining us here on Kurt Affairs.

It's a pleasure.

Hi.

Okay, so our audience is mostly American.

You are writing about the British ruling class and the British power structure.

And this book is centered around Oxford, and you, Oxford University, and you make the argument that in order to understand how power works in Britain, you must look at Oxford University.

And perhaps you could first start by explaining to those of us who are somewhat unfamiliar with the British power structure, why that is, how why this particular institution looms so large in the country and why you chose to centre the book there.

Well, of the 15 post-war British prime ministers,

11 went to Oxford, including Boris Johnson, the current one.

Three didn't go to university, including Churchill,

and Gordon Brown went to Edinburgh because he's from Scottish elite,

which follows a slightly different group.

...