A member of the Garrick Club has been expelled amid the continuing row over its men-only membership.
Former theatre producer Colin Brough was reportedly kicked out of the 193-year-old private members’ club for “conduct unbecoming of a gentleman”.
It came after he had sent a series of angry emails to other members criticising the club’s management and urging a change in the rules, according to The Guardian.
The Covent Garden club has around 1,300 members with Stephen Fry, Michael Gove and Brian Cox reportedly among its current members.
The row over its membership policy was reignited in 2022 when the lawyer who originally ruled it could bar women changed his mind and said there was no legal justification to stay men-only.
A poll of members last November found 51% were in favour of admitting women but club rules require a two thirds majority to change its position.
Previous attempts to change the rules include a 2011 proposal that actress Joanna Lumley be allowed to join. Hundreds of lawyers signed a petition in 2020 supporting a rule change after lingerie entrepreneur Emily Bendell challenged the rule, while Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper tabled a parliamentary early day motion in 2022 calling for change.
The Garrick Club did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
