‘Boris bikes’ and other names that ring a bell
Ted Short (Lord Glenamara), who died at the age of 99 last week, was an education minister, and deputy leader of the Labour Party, but will probably go down in history as the architect of ‘Short money. ‘
This is the state funding, started during Short’s time as leader of the House of Commons in the late 1970s, whereby opposition parties are paid several million pounds of state money to pay for research and policy work.
It was established on the principle that governing parties have a built in advantage through their use of the civil service, and the imbalance needed to be redressed in a small way.
Short money has survived ever since, and there’s the added advantage that the name makes it sound like a very thrifty and penny-pinching form of expenditure. Indeed there are many people in politics who don’t realise it was named after Ted Short. A friend, Tom Fairbrother set me the challenge of coming up with other politicians’ eponyms – things named after people. So here goes:
Belisha Beacons, the flashing orange lights at zebra crossings, named after Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Transport Minister who introduced them in 1934;
Anderson shelters, small garden air-raid shelters, named after the pre-war Lord Privy Seal (and sometime Home Secretary) Sir John Anderson;
Morrison shelters, less popular, indoor, air-raid shelters named after Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison;
Baker Days, in service training days for teachers, named after the former Education Secretary, Ken Baker;
Boris Bikes, after Boris Johnson, and maybe Boris Island too; Wellington boots, named after the Duke of Wellington;
Bobbies and peelers, policemen, named after the home secretary who introduced the police force, Sir Robert Peel;
Short Money, the state grants to opposition parties, named after the former Leader of the House, Edward Short, who introduced it;
Cranborne Money, the Lords equivalent to Short Money, named after Lord Cranborne; sandwiches, named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who held various offices in the eighteenth century; cardigans, named after the 7th Earl of Cardigan, who was notoriously in charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, but previously an MP.
Readers will no doubt suggest many more, though it’s interesting that some of our greatest politicians, such as Churchill, Lloyd-George and Thatcher, don’t seem to have contributed any eponyms.
OTHER POLITICAL EPONYMS SUGGESTED BY TWEETERS
Churchill tank
Churchill cigars
Bevin boys
Plimsoll Line, and plimsolls (derived from the Plimsoll line)
Gladstone bags
Gladstone collars
Woolton pie
Addison plane (anatomical device)
Anthony Eden hats
Earl Grey tea
Lloyd George records (patients’ notes)
The Derby
And my colleague Gary Gibbon has suggested Caesar salads! Yes, he was a British politician, in a way, I suppose.
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