Blue rinse brigade

The Blue rinse brigade is a somewhat pejorative term used, particularly in the United Kingdom, to describe elderly middle-class ladies usually of a conservative socio-political persuasion. This group is usually characterised as forming the backbone of local branches of the Conservative Party, who consequently tend to disapprove of female or non-white candidates for elections which results in the predominance of middle-class male white candidates put forward by the party, to the despair of recent party leaders such as Michael Howard and David Cameron [ [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/s2.cfm?id=785202002 End of the Blue Rinse Brigade] ,The Scotsman, 22 July 2002 (accessed19 January,2007)]

The term arises from the blue rinse hairdressing applied to disguise the often yellow tones of greying hair.

References