big beast

English

Noun

big beast (plural big beasts)

1. (UK, politics) A prominent and influential politician, especially one seen as a leader or major player within a party or faction.
   • 2004, The Economist:

     But business has become less keen both on Europe and on him, while the erstwhile Tory big beasts, such as Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine, Douglas Hurd and Chris Patten, have been strident critics of his Iraq policy.

   • 2010 February 12, Florence Faucher-King, Patrick Le Galés, The New Labour Experiment: Change and Reform Under Blair and Brown, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 153:

     Despite the reluctance of New Labour big beasts such as Charles Clarke, Stephen Byers, or Alan Milburn, and the hesitations of David Miliband and Alan Johnson, Gordon Brown was elected unopposed.

   • 2021 August 19, Christopher Booker, Richard North, The Great Deception: The True Story of Britain and the European Union, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 336:

     If his purpose was to re-ignite Tory passions, he was successful, ending up with the Tory 'big beasts' fighting among themselves.

   • 2024 July 5, Alexandra Topping, “The 2024 election’s ‘Portillo moments’: which ‘Big Beasts’ have lost their seats?”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Michael Portillo’s election defeat in 1997, unseated on a swing of 17.4 percentage points shortly after 3am on 2 May that year, has become synonymous with the shock moment that a major political big beast loses their seat.