Vicar of Bray

Vicar of Bray

Someone who changes their alleged fundamental belief(s) or allegiance(s) in keeping with the popular views of the time, so as to gain or maintain a favorable position or advantage. (An allusion to Simon Aleyn, a 16th-century vicar in the town of Bray, Berkshire, who changed his faith to Roman Catholicism, then back to Protestantism, depending on the beliefs of the ruling monarch.) Though the statesman always remained popular in the polls, many politicians felt him to be a Vicar of Bray, changing the tune of his rhetoric to meet whatever fancy the public demanded at the time.
See also: of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • bow to (someone or something)
  • bow before
  • bow before (someone)
  • bow down before (someone)
  • benefit of the doubt, to give/have the
  • an/the advantage over (someone or something)
  • an/the edge on (someone or something)
  • an/the edge over (someone or something)
  • a change in (one's) stripes
  • put a spin on (something)
References in periodicals archive
A four-time winner for trainer Toby Balding, Vicar Of Bray retired as long ago as 1997, since when he has remained active, first as a riding horse and latterly in his Staffordshire field with a companion.
Vicar Of Bray celebrates milestone with a carrot
As for Viscount Cranborne, or the Vicar of Bray as he should be known, it's obvious no family could spend 400 years at the centre of power without being able to judge which way the wind is blowing.
A quarter the party they once were; Viscount Cranborne hasn't just betrayed his leader and his party
Churchmen, on the other hand, were goaded by external forces - a John Wesley, for instance - to mind their standards and improve upon the laxness portrayed in the ballad of the Vicar of Bray (1720).
Power and the Professions in Britain: 1700-1850
I believe if a trainer is optimistic about the chances of his horses, that optimism should be acted upon without prevarication or insurance - so I had a single bet: a four-horse accumulator on Southampton, Vicar Of Bray, Ask The Governor and Glove Puppet.
'I enquired tactfully if a coup might be on the cards. It transpired I'd picked the right stable' FROMT HEVAULTS VINTAGERA CINGP OST WRITING
The chorus runs as follows: And this be law, I shall maintain until my dying day, sir That whatsoever king may reign, Still I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.
We're not the same; LETTERS
ONE of the songs I learnt in childhood was The Vicar of Bray, the theme of which is whatever king might reign he would be the Vicar of Bray and do as he liked.
Letter: Rex Makin - What Sir David did next
Unfortunately, whatever the consequences of his latest campaign, he ( like the Vicar of Bray ( will move on, and seek to tackle some new "problem" which has excited the Prime Minister; perhaps leaving many thousands of people to face the consequences of a vibrant and prosperous city economy damaged for the benefit of the Government's latest top 10 problem-solving exercise.
Dear Journal
This other Marvell, friend of Prince Rupert, political survivor emulating the Vicar of Bray, and sensible politico will have to be accommodated and some of the well established comfortable Marvell tempered with a little reality.
ANDREW MARVELL: THE POET AND HIS WORLD