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Page turners for the political anorak

 

J.B. Seatrobe

 

J.B. Seatrobe surveys the landscape of political novels and unearths some gems

 

As befits a country with a long parliamentary history, we also have a long tradition of British political fiction. Although much of it would not win any prizes for literature, there are plots and settings to suit most tastes, and many interesting gems to keep you amused or enthralled. By British political fiction I mean novels that are set in the British political and parliamentary scene, usually in Westminster and Whitehall.

 

I've ignored most that promote a particular cause (although some suffragettes have crept in here somehow), in favour of books that deal with the realities of British political life. At a time when politicians are trying to bring Parliament closer to the people, you could argue that a well-researched political thriller might interest a new audience of voters in the workings of the political system.

 

More realistically, the romantic image of the closed worlds of the Palace of Westminster or Whitehall's "corridors of power" (in the classic phrase of a CP Snow novel) provides an ideal setting for a wide variety of scenarios at the heart of politics. Inevitably, political ambitions and the attraction of power are often combined with financial, sexual and other scandals. Elections, too, furnish rich opportunities for action and intrigue. So there's plenty to get your teeth into.

 

Who writes political novels? Broadly speaking, there are four main types of writer: MPs and peers, journalists, political insiders, and professional authors.

 

Politicians

Disraeli is probably the best known - and certainly the most high profile - politiciannovelist. He had been writing political pamphlets and novels for many years before he became an MP. An early political novel: A year at Hartlebury, or The Election, was published in 1834, three years before he was elected for Maidstone.

 

His trilogy of political novels, Sybil, Coningsby and Tancred, was written in the 1840s, but his output dried up once he became a minister in 1852.

 

In the 20th century, the Labour MP Maurice Edelman wrote many cultured political best sellers during his 30 years on the backbenches. Curiously, he was fascinated by Disraeli and wrote two novels about him: Disraeli in Love (1972) and Disraeli Rising (1975).

 

More recently, Douglas Hurd has been the most prolific MP, now a peer, publishing political fiction. Early works were co-written with Andrew Osmond, co-founder of Private Eye, but it is Palace of Enchantments (1985), written with Stephen Lamport, his private secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that really epitomises the parliamentary genre of political novels. The setting echoes Hurd's own experience, and there are other works whose heroes may even be a fictionalised alter ego of the author.

 

 For example, Nigel West (the penname of Rupert Allason, Tory MP for Torbay 1987-97) wrote two readable mysteries based in Westminster - Murder in the Commons (1992) and Murder in the Lords (1994) - starring Tory MP Philip North. A Tory chief whip in the upper House, Lord (Bertie) Denham, wrote several thrillers starring Derek, Viscount Thyrde, a Conservative whip in the Lords, including Black Rod (1997).

 

In recent decades, many other MPs and a few peers have tried their hand at political fiction, with varying degrees of success (whether literary or commercial), including Jeffrey Archer, Hilaire Belloc, Edwina Currie, Boris Johnson, Chris  Mullin, Brian Sedgemore, and Ann Widdecombe. Where did they find the time?

 

Political insiders

A number of authors have used their own experience to develop realistic scenarios. Philip Hensher's Kitchen Venom (1996), for example, features a House of Commons official not unlike the committee clerk he once was.

 

A more gripping read is the murder mystery, Who Goes Hang? (1958), written by Stanley Hyland, a former research librarian at the House of Commons.

 

The body of a long-dead murder victim is discovered during repairs to the Clock Tower, and an informal committee of MPs is appointed to investigate. The book is full of accurate details, which should delight fans of the building, and in Big Ben's 150th anniversary year, perhaps this is one to seek out and enjoy.

 

Being a civil servant provides good opportunities for fiction-writing with some degree of authenticity. Trollope is the most obvious example, with his riveting career at the Post Office (and his one failed effort to win a Commons seat in 1868 for the Liberals at Beverley). His Palliser novels, depicting the world of Victorian aristocratic politics, are classics. Others include the senior diplomat (and former royal press secretary), Michael Shea, and CP Snow (also briefly a junior minister in the Lords).

 

Novels written by political wives provide a new perspective. Three good reads are Alice Renton's Maiden Speech (1997), Vanessa Hanham's Division Belle (1997) and Sandra Howard's Glass Houses (2006).

 

In each case they bring more emotional depth to their stories than some of their male counterparts. Sadly, the plots of their later novels seem to move away from the political arena. One novel by a political mistress deserves a special mention. Cecil Parkinson's former lover Sara Keays' The Black Book (1996) has a powerful plot that displays her inside knowledge to the full. And while we're on the subject, how about re-reading Edwina Currie's A Woman's Place (1996) in the light of history? In this book, the newlyelected Prime Minister curtails his close friendship with his erstwhile mistress, but appoints her as a junior minister.

Political advisers seem to make the most of their proximity to the political action. Michael Dobbs has been hugely successful in portraying the cut and thrust of parliamentary politics. In 1990, his novel House of Cards was turned into a memorable television series, starring Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart. Its popularity encouraged him to write two further novels, To Play the King (1993) and Final Cut (1995), which were also televised. He also wrote three books starring Thomas Goodfellowe MP, as well as the recent First Lady (2006) and The Lords' Day (2007).

 

Journalists

Many journalists have written political novels, but political and parliamentary correspondents generally have the edge on authenticity. Good examples are Simon Walters' Second Term (2000), and Andy McSmith's Innocent in the House (2001). John Cole wrote a political thriller set in 1970s Northern Ireland: A Clouded Peace (2001), and Robert Harris' The Ghost (2007) is a good recent example. Gillian Linscott, a former parliamentary correspondent for BBC local radio, has created a longrunning series starring Nell Bray, a militant suffragette with a flair for detection. Her Dance on Blood (1998) bases the plot on a real event, the suffragette bombing in 1913 of Lloyd George's new weekend villa at Walton Heath golf links. A completely different curiosity is a satire co-written by Georgi Markov (whose life and death by poisoned umbrella were the stuff of political fiction), under the pseudonym of David St George. Right Honourable Chimpanzee (1978) is about a monkey that is elected to the House of Commons. The plot is a strange echo of one of the earliest political novels, Thomas Love Peacock's 1817 satire Melincourt, in which Sir Oran- Haut-ton is elected for a rotten borough.

 

Two journalists have, unusually, focussed on local, rather than national politics. In 1991 Mike Phillips won the Crime Writers' Association Macallan Silver Dagger award for The Late Candidate (1990), his story about the murder of a controversial black councillor in North London. Obviously a dangerous city to get elected in - the leader of Beechley Borough Council in South London is also murdered in Stephen Cook's One Dead Tory (1993).

 

Professional authors

It is fairly common in series, especially murder mysteries and police procedurals, to have the regular protagonist involved in an episode with a political setting, such as an election or skeletons in a politician's cupboard.

 

It is a convenient way for general readers to delve into more political environments, and - more relevant to readers of Total Politics - for political anoraks to find new authors to follow even in non-political contexts.

Examples include:

  • Paul Gallico's character Mrs

Harris - Mrs Harris MP (1965)

  • John Creasey's The Toff -
Vote for the Toff (1971)
  • Patricia Hall's Laura Ackroyd and Michael
Thackeray - Death by Election (1993)
  • Antonia Fraser's Jemima Shore
- Political Death (1994)
  • Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus - Strip

Jack (1992) and Set in Darkness (2000)

 

Devolution has opened up a whole new setting for political intrigue. Scotland leads the way, with Ian Rankin's Set in Darkness (2000) probably the best read. Christopher Brookmyre's Boiling a Frog (2000) also involves the Scottish Parliament.

 

 

 

Top five Most Controversial Political Novels


The best-selling novel of the 19th century, Uncle Tom's Cabin,(1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe, focuses on the eponymous black slave. It contributed to the beginnings of the Civil War.

 

The Manchurian Candidate (1959), by Richard Condon, explores how the son of a prominent political family is brainwashed to become an unwilling assassin for the Communist Party. The novel was banned incommunist states 'for political reasons'.


To Kill a Mocking Bird (1960) by Harper Lee has been subject of campaigns for removal from classrooms. Its sensitive subject matter deals with issues of rape and racial inequality in a small town in Alabama during the Great
Depression.

 

Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley was banned in Ireland upon publication. Set in the London of AD 2540, the novel showed a futuristic dystopia. embodiment of the ideals of futurism.

 

George Orwell's allegory Animal Farm (1945) in which animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries was delayed and censored by the British government and confiscated by Allied troops in Germany.