A cabinet of all the authors
As the Publishers Association and its members gear up to work with the new government, it’s great to see so many published authors in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet.
Political writing explores new ideas, sheds light on important moments from recent history, and gives us insights into the thinking of our political leaders. The Publishers Association has long celebrated the link between politics and publishing in the annual Parliamentary Books Awards (PBAs) with the Booksellers Association.
Authors in the Cabinet include Lisa Nandy, the new Culture Secretary, whose 2022 book All In: How we build a country that works for everyone (HarperNorth / HarperCollins) was nominated for the PBAs and argues communities should have more power. Health Secretary Wes Streeting was shortlisted for this year’s PBAs for his memoir One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up (Hodder & Stoughton / Hachette) about the power of family and education to overcome adversity. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has published a number of books and won the 2019 PBAs for her book Women of Westminster: The MPs who changed Politics (Tauris Parke / Bloomsbury). Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband are also among the authors of the cabinet.
Sir Chris Bryant MP, Minister of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sports has over 10 books to his name. He won a 2020 Parliamentary Book Award with The Glamour Boys: The Secret Story of the Rebels who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler (Bloomsbury) and was shortlisted in 2023 with Code of Conduct (Bloomsbury).
Nick Thomas-Symonds, former PBAs nominee and Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, has written biographies on Harold Wilson, Aneurin Bevan, and Clement Atlee.
Members of the Cabinet have first-hand experience of the value and impact of publishing. The Publishers Association looks forward to working with them and to celebrating another year of political publishing in the 2024 PBAs.