When it comes to the Johnson government, ministers weren’t always judged to have done things by the book. But Mr S has done some digging and it turns out that the former PM did his bit to restore one of the lesser-known No. 10 traditions. In 1931, Ramsay MacDonald began the practice of incumbent and departing ministers being asked to donate a book to the Prime Minister’s library. The collection lines the walls of the cabinet room, offering inspiration to the ministers sat around the table there.
In recent years though, the practice had fallen into abeyance. However Johnson was an enthusiast for the scheme and encouraged his ministers to resurrect the practice. Following a Freedom of Information request, Steerpike has now discovered that 17 books have now been added to the library since 2021. Among them includes Johnson’s sole donation: ‘The Churchill Factor: How one made history’ written by one, er, Boris Johnson. Both the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the Development minister Andrew Mitchell have followed his example by both modestly donating their own works too.
Other ministers chose to look elsewhere for inspiration. Some reflected their departmental interests. Home Secretary Priti Patel donated a history of the police, with Alok Sharma, the former COP president, submitting David Attenborough’s work ‘A Life on Our Planet.’ Jacob Rees-Mogg preferred a familial connection, offering his father’s work ‘An Humbler Heaven.’ Perhaps reflecting their own interests, Nigel Adams went for Michael Dobbs’ classic ‘House of Cards’ while diehard monarchist Michael Ellis has given a copy of Robert Hardman’s work on the late Queen. Alister Jack and Mark Spencer meanwhile both plumped for Jeremy Clarkson’s bestseller ‘Diddly Squat.’
Some choices though perhaps offer a commentary on the administration in which the ministers served. Chris Heaton-Harris donated ‘The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes’ – appropriate for a former Chief Whip. Thérèse Coffey opted for ‘The Authority Gap’ by Mary Ann Sieghart, with Robert Buckland submitting Peter Green’s ‘Captured at Arnhem’. Jack also went for ‘The Minister of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ – an apt sentiment for a minister tasked with battling the SNP.
Good to see such true blue Tories being so well-read…
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