Bufton Tufton

English

Etymology

Coined by Private Eye, based on the former Conservative MP Tufton Beamish.

Noun

Bufton Tufton (plural Bufton Tuftons)

1. (UK) A reactionary old conservative.
   • 1998, Crossbow: A Quarterly Journal of Politics:

     A new generation is battling through, but there are still too many Sir Bufton Tuftons at the core of the Party organisation.

   • 2004, Waitrose Food Illustrated:

     Many people see it is as the sole preserve of the Bufton Tuftons who sit in their gentleman's clubs complaining about the ills of the modern world while chomping away on a pheasant, mallard duck or partridge.

   • 2008, Peter Whittle, Look at Me: Celebrating the Self in Modern Britain:

     An old school friend of mine, certainly not a Bufton Tufton, who was visiting London from his home in Italy, was mystified to see commuters standing on the railway station in just T-shirts or cardigans in the middle of a harsh winter.

   • 2010, Jeremy Clarkson, How Hard Can It Be?: The World According to Clarkson, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

     He just replaced the Bufton Tuftons with a bunch of people whose only qualification is a hatred of meat and a chip on the shoulder.

See also

• Dave Spart