Garrick Club votes to allow women members for the first time

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The Garrick Club has voted to allow women to join for the first time, reversing a policy that had stood for almost 200 years before attracting growing scrutiny of London’s exclusive private gentlemen’s club scene.

Members of the Garrick, including actors, lawyers, politicians and senior journalists, on Tuesday voted by 60 per cent to 40 per cent to admit women, after several high-profile members said their participation would become untenable without a reversal.

One member said the vote would “rejuvenate membership”.

The vote, held at the Grand Connaught Rooms in nearby Holborn rather than the club itself, had been keenly anticipated after details of the members list were published by the Guardian earlier this year.

High-profile figures including Richard Moore, head of MI6, and Civil Service head Simon Case, stepped down from the club after reports raised questions over their membership while leading organisations that have championed equality.

Other members, including the BBC journalist John Simpson and musician Sting, had pushed for a vote after warning that they too would resign their membership unless the policy was reversed.

Members were warned not to speak to the press on leaving the vote, but a few expressed support for the passing of the motion provided they were not identified. The club was contacted earlier in the day, but said it would not comment on the vote.

Others were sceptical the club had solved an issue that had left members divided, arguing that the vote had only passed because the club had suspended its usual need for a two-thirds majority for any rule changes.

“I don’t really give a **** about the outcome, but I worry those that were opposed are still a sizeable minority and will continue to argue that the vote was flawed or a stitch-up,” one long-term member told the FT. 

The vote had been narrowed to focus on whether a legal opinion received by the club — that by the letter of the law women had never been officially barred — was valid.

“My biggest concern is that there will still be division among existing members,” the long-term member added, saying there was some animosity towards members such as actor Stephen Fry and others who had publicly warned they may need to resign if the vote had not passed.

Fry appeared in good spirits as he exited the meeting, hugging other members who congratulated him on “victory”. But he declined to speak to the press.

“All these people pretending like they didn’t know the rules of the club when they joined, it’s laughable,” the long-term member added.

Others cautioned that, despite the outcome of the vote, it could still be a number of years until any women were admitted, given the lengthy process for nominations and approvals baked into the club system.

Asked who the first women members might be one half-joked they could nominate Catherine the Princess of Wales. Another, in high spirits, said he may nominate Stormy Daniels, the former porn actor who is testifying in the trial of Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday “depending on how her testimony goes”.

The same member said that while the issue had revealed divisions in the club led by a “hardcore” opposed to women joining the meeting had nevertheless been good natured.

Another was less polite. Standing outside a pub opposite the Grand Connaught Rooms he said the media had created the issue, branding the press “a ****ing disgrace” and adding there was no comparable focus on all-women clubs or women-only colleges.

Most members appeared in rather better spirits. “As you might expect, it was all rather gentlemanly,” one member said as he walked through Covent Garden towards the Garrick. “There’s not too much rancour. We’re all going for a drink together now at the club.”