THESAURUS
powers that be
John Bull, Rasputin, Svengali, Uncle Sam, VIP, Washington, Whitehall, access, bad influence, big wheel, bureaucracy, court, directorate, eminence grise, five-percenter, friend at court, good influence, gray eminence, heavyweight, hidden hand, hierarchy, higher echelons, higher-ups, holdover, incumbent, influence, influence peddler, influencer, ingroup, ins, jack-in-office, key, kingmaker, lame duck, lobby, lobbyist, lords of creation, man of influence, management, manipulator, ministry, new broom, office-bearer, officeholder, officialdom, open sesame, prelacy, president-elect, pressure group, public official, public servant, ruling class, ruling classes, sinister influence, special interests, special-interest group, the Crown, the Establishment, the administration, the authorities, the government, the ingroup, the interests, the people upstairs, the power elite, the power structure, the top, them, they, top brass, very important person, wheeler-dealer, wire-puller
