This morning Lord Ashcroft wrote a blog post for ConservativeHome detailing information regarding his upcoming biography of David Cameron, Call me Dave.
Ashcroft, who is known to have a lukewarm relationship with the Prime Minister, said that the book will be published in the autumn, after the election. He went on to claim that Cameron’s official biography, which is being written by Sir Anthony Seldon, is to be ‘rushed’ out to ‘avoid a clash’ with his own:
‘Apparently he is being encouraged to do so by Number 10. Having originally planned to publish during party conference season, I am told that he now intends to publish at the end of July. Number 10 is so eager to assist that aides have been reading and correcting draft chapters. It will be a pleasant surprise if his book is not merely a sanitised account.’
However, Seldon tells Mr S that while they plan to publish the book soon after the election, this is simply in keeping with his previous books on Prime Ministers which have all been published ‘shortly after general elections’. In a statement to Steerpike, he says:
‘I am writing Cameron at 10 with Peter Snowdon, and we plan to publish it as soon after the general election as can be managed, but there is still much work to be done. This is the fifth book I have written on Prime Ministers which have been published shortly after general elections’
Meanwhile Ashcroft may be surprised on reading to find that the book is ‘not merely a sanitised account’. Seldon says that while the relevant people have been passed chapters of the book to read in advance, this is simply in order to check for accuracy as is ‘in line with the best traditions of contemporary history’.
‘They are all written with help and support from insiders and it has always been my practice, in line with the best traditions of contemporary history, to send back passages to people who know about the particular episodes, so that they can add extra information and check that the accounts are accurate. I am following the methodology which is clearly laid out for such writing by The Institute of Contemporary History which I founded with Lord Hennessy 25 years ago.’
Seldon, who has written biographies of John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, adds that he wishes both Ashcroft, and his co-author Isabel Oakeshott, the best with their rival tome, which he is sure will be ‘excellent’. Given that the political biographer is donating all the profits from his book to charity, he perhaps isn’t too bothered about how it sizes up next to Lord Ashcroft’s.
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