Transition Culture

21 Aug 2008

What MPs Have Been Reading on Their Holidays…

You’ll find out over the next few days about what I was reading during my holiday, but it was fascinating to read about what the UK’s MP’s have been reading on theirs…. the following comes courtesy of the BBC website… Number 10 (which was actually joint 5th..) comes as a bit of a surprise….

MPs choose Hague books over Blair
William Hague’s book topped the MPs reading list last year

Books by William and Ffion Hague are among the most popular holiday reads for MPs this summer, but Cherie Blair’s autobiography has largely been ignored. The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George’s Life by Ffion Hague was the book most MPs wanted to pack, according to a Waterstones survey.

William Hague’s biography of anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce was the third most popular. But Cherie Blair’s memoirs were only picked by one MP out of the 150 polled. Her husband’s former spokesman Alastair Campbell fared slightly better.

His account of Tony Blair’s decade as prime minister, The Blair Years, came joint fifth. US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama made two appearances in the survey – with his memoir, Dreams From My Father, and the political manifesto, Audacity Of Hope.

Although political biographies dominated the list, there were a few works of fiction singled out by members of the House of Commons.

MPS’ SUMMER READS
Ffion Hague The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George’s Life
Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns
William Hague William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-Slave Trade Campaigner
Sebastian Faulks Devil May Care
Barack Obama The Audacity of Hope
Barack Obama Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
William Hague William Pitt the Younger
Alastair Campbell The Blair Years
Robert Harris The Ghost
John Prescott My Story: Pulling No Punches
RS Thomas Poems
John O’Farrell An Utterly Impartial History of Britain
Rob Hopkins The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience

A Thousand Splendid Suns, the second novel by Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini, shared joint first place with Mrs Hague’s book. Sebastian Faulk’s highly-publicised James Bond novel, Devil May Care, was ranked joint third. The most popular author among Labour MPs was Ian Rankin, while William Hague was the favourite for Tories. Hague topped the list last year with his biography of Wilberforce.

The shadow foreign secretary’s earlier book, on William Pitt The Younger, also appeared in this year’s top 10. “It seems that the Hagues are everyone’s favourite flight companions this summer,” said a spokesman for Waterstones. “William Hague’s books on the other Williams – Pitt and Wilberforce – have dominated our annual MPs Summer Reading survey, and this mirrors the sales we see in our stores. Hague is now one of our bestselling historians.”

But Tory leader David Cameron may have less reason to celebrate. Only one of the 37 tomes he recommended to his party earlier this summer appeared in the top 10 – and that was Ffion Hague’s book.