How do you join?

You have to be asked - but if you're black or female, you appear to stand little chance. There are no non-white Merchants, and until 2003 Margaret Thatcher was the only female member (just days after this investigation was published two women were admitted to the Society). "There's nothing in the rules that precludes women or people who are from an ethnic minority, it's just that no-one has yet met the selection criteria," Parkes said in early 2003, adding that the all-white, overwhelmingly-male membership is "more an indictment of society as a whole rather than of the Merchants". You also have to be wealthy: only people with a proven track record of charitable giving are considered.
The selection process is secret, although Parkes says a committee is always "looking out for new Merchants". But you don't know that you're being considered for membership until you've been nominated by an existing member, discussed at a meeting and put to the vote. Only then are you told and invited to join.
The Society has three executive officers: a junior warden, a senior warden and a master. They preside over the organisation's lavish dinners, held every four months in its Clifton mansion. The Merchants 'elect' new officers every November 10. (The junior warden always becomes senior warden, and the senior warden always becomes the master). Louis Sherwood is currently the senior warden, so he'll replace present master Roger Smedley as master this November. Consultant Denis Burn is the junior master, so he'll be boss in 2004.