The Vermin Club was an organisation of grassroots
Conservative Party supporters in
Britain in the late 1940s.
On the evening of 4 July 1948,
Aneurin Bevan, the
Labour Government's Minister of Health, addressed the annual Labour rally for the North of England at
Belle Vue, Manchester
Belle Vue is an area of Manchester, England, east of the city centre, bordered by the Hope Valley Line on the east and the Glossop Line on the west. Belle Vue is part of the electoral ward of Longsight. Belle Vue railway station lies on the ...
, and described Conservatives as "lower than
vermin
Vermin ( colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterp ...
". Young Tories took on the description with ironic
self-deprecation
Self-deprecation is the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, disparaging oneself, or being excessively modest. It can be used as a way to make complaints, express modesty, invoke optimal reactions or add humour. It may also be u ...
and set up the Vermin Club.
Members took to wearing ''vermin'' badges (a chrome badge featuring a rat and the word VERMIN).
A whole hierarchy was established, so that those who recruited ten new party members wore badges identifying them as ''vile vermin''; those who recruited twenty five were ''very vile vermin''.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
was an early member of the group and rose through the ranks to become a "Chief Rat".
The club boasted a membership of between 105,000 and 120,000 at its height.
See also
*
Basket of deplorables
"Basket of deplorables" is a phrase from a 2016 presidential election campaign speech delivered by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on September 9, 2016, at a campaign fundraising event, which she used to describe half of the supporters of her ...
, a similar disparagement that galvanised the political opposition
References
1948 establishments in the United Kingdom
1951 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Defunct clubs and societies of the United Kingdom
Organisations associated with the Conservative Party (UK)
Organizations disestablished in 1951
Organizations established in 1948
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