Buggins' turn


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Buggins' turn

Appointment or advancement based on a series of rotation (as due, for example, to seniority) rather than individual merit, qualification, or achievement. So called for the commonness and ubiquity of Buggins as a surname in the UK Primarily heard in UK. Even though I work twice as hard as him, he's going to get the promotion because of Buggins' turn.
See also: turn

Buggins's turn

appointment in rotation rather than by merit.
Buggins is used here to represent a typical or generic surname.
See also: turn
References in periodicals archive ?
The Royal Bank kept it hostile, so at the end of it there were no joint chairmen or cosy succession deals about Buggins' turn to be next chief executive - no argument about who was in charge.
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The contrast between the truly brave who earn their hero-worship and the worthies who get their gongs by Buggins' turn has never been clearer than today.
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Presumably, that means they prefer the system we have now whereby a time-serving councillor is appointed Lord Mayor by colleagues on the principle of Buggins' Turn.
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I was appointed managing director of a moderately successful financial PR firm, on the sound old principle of Buggins' turn, and managed to make that success even more moderate by applying a management style that combined wheedling flattery, towering rages, sexual harassment and a total absence of inspiring leadership.
Keith Hann column
All of this is inevitable in a system that bestows the coveted chain and robes, and tidy expenses budget, on a Buggins' turn basis.
Perspective: Beware mayoral selection zone; City councillors meet on May 15 to elect the next Lord Mayor of Birmingham. What should be a splendid civic occasion will be marred by a bitter row over the nomination of Tory John Lines for the job. What, exactly, is all the fuss about?, asks Paul Dale
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