The poor old Establishment! In the 71 years since the expression was first coined in The Spectator, it’s never taken such a kicking. In his speech this week, calling for a by-election in his Clacton constituency, Nigel Farage declared: ‘This will be a people versus the Establishment by-election.’ He added: ‘The Establishment have now decided that they can’t beat us fairly – so they’ve chosen to use foul means.’

Surely Nigel Farage, a fabulously rich, Dulwich-educated MP, and Prince Harry, the Old Etonian son of the King, are the Establishment

Surely Nigel Farage, a fabulously rich, Dulwich-educated MP, and Prince Harry, the Old Etonian son of the King, are the Establishment

Prince Harry hates the Establishment, too. When he lost his legal challenge over getting government security in May 2025, he described his court defeat as a “good old-fashioned Establishment stitch-up”.

Surely Nigel Farage, a fabulously rich, Dulwich-educated MP, leading Britain’s most successful political party, and Prince Harry, the fabulously rich, Old Etonian son of the King and one of the most-loved princesses in history, are the Establishment writ large.

But their attacks just go to show how the meaning of the Establishment has changed since Henry Fairlie (1924-90) first popularised the term on the Political Commentary page of........

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