With recess in session and MPs packing bags, Steerpike was delighted to receive a list of what MPs are recommending for their summer hols. The guide – put together by the Publishers Association – contained some fairly predictable suggestions: vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi chose Matt Ridley’s How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom while Nick Thomas Symonds plumped for a collection of essays by NHS founder Nye Bevan – a Labour hero about whom the shadow Home Secretary has written a book. Safe choice.
Fortunately, other members provided more insightful preferences. Kicking us off is Rishi Sunak, who is evidently still smarting from England’s spot-kick performance in the European Championships final. His choice, Ben Lyttleton’s Twelve Yards, is an exploration of the technique and psychology required to put a penalty away. Perhaps the Chancellor himself will soon be practising in his own replica shirt, replete with ‘Rishi’ ‘11’ on the back but hopefully without the tags.
Diverging from his Cabinet colleague was Brandon Lewis who opted for escapism with Bernard Cromwell’s Excalibur. The Northern Ireland Secretary is currently trying to find a solution to the issue of Troubles-related prosecutions and has clearly tried to channel the Arthurian spirit in pursuit of this judicial Holy Grail. From the opposition benches, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves opts for children’s book Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders. A subtle hint in a party yet to elect its female leader perhaps?
Gavin Williamson is no stranger to being in the trenches, given last summer’s exams debacle. No wonder, then, that the Education Secretary selected Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, the First World War classic which explores the mental stresses of German soldiers during the First World War. Gott mit uns is surely what Williamson will be hoping as he prepares for the release of exam results next month.
The Prime Minister’s own choice represents something of a hat-tip to his former career as a journalist. Scoop, by Evelyn Waugh, is a 1938 satire of foreign correspondents, sensationalism and newsroom rivalries set in the fictional East African nation of Ishmaelia. Unsurprisingly, Johnson’s own economies with the actualité in the jungles of Brussels and Westminster have prompted many already to draw parallels with Waugh’s delightfully sketched characters. An alternative suggestion for the PM could be the choice of Carolyn Harris MP, deputy leader of Welsh Labour who opted for Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer – a fantasy work about an uneasy peace in Ireland, nearly thwarted by one man’s over-elaborate technical ‘solutions.’
Lastly, the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, put forward Steve Richards’ The Prime Ministers, and it was the text Hoyle wrote to accompany his recommendation which is of particular interest here:
Richards cites the multi-dimensional qualities that he thinks make for a successful PM – from having an ability to show, rather than tell, to being nimble, with a good sense of humour and terminology voters can relate to. At the same time, he also says they need to have widespread appeal and be able to manage an often-divided party – in other words, quite a tall order.
Mr S wonders whether Hoyle’s choice is one for the leader of the opposition to ponder over this six-week break.
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