Political name dropping
Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 10:29 I enjoyed the first Political Book Awards at the IMAX cinema in London on Wednesday.
Brainchild of publisher, broadcaster and blogger Iain Dale, the event included drinks, awards, more drinks, then "carriages" at midnight.
As I've mentioned before, I worked with Iain for a very brief period a decade ago. He founded Politicos Bookshop in Westminster and together we launched a short-lived magazine, The Politico, that included interviews, features and reviews of the latest political books.
Gyles Brandreth was one of the writers I interviewed and on Wednesday he compered the Political Book Awards. Very funny he was too.
I lost count of the number of categories there were (Gyles warned the 400-strong audience that our attention might waver during the course of the evening) but I made a note of some of the 'stars' who presented the awards.
They included Ann Widdecombe, Alastair Campbell, Jemina Khan, Peter Snow, Chris Mullin, Lady Antonia Fraser and former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips.
Wearing a pair of black, fishnet-style stockings, Widdecombe made the biggest impression, but hats off to Phillips for delivering the most inappropriate presentation speech I have ever heard.
I don't remember who won that particular award because she was too busy settling an old score with former Conservative minister Virginia Bottomley. It was the one moment in the evening when even Gyles stopped smiling.
From a personal point of view the evening was a bit strange. I recognised lots of people (Nick Robinson, David Davis – and was that Derek Draper?) but I knew hardly anyone, if that makes sense.
The usual think tank crowd was largely absent. Why that was I don't know but it seemed odd that there should be such a chasm between political think tanks and political publishers.
Personally I would have a category for Best Think Tank Publication. (Why not? Think tanks publish books too.)
The awards were donated by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft, who also contributed two substantial cash prizes to the winners of the Political Book of the Year and the Young Writer of the Year.
This led to an interesting conversation with the writer who sat next to me during the awards. We understood why Total Politics, the magazine Ashcroft has underwritten for the past few years, is politically neutral. We understood too why the Political Book Awards favoured neither right nor left.
What we didn't understand is why a Conservative peer with strong political convictions (or so we believe) is spending substantial sums of money on projects such as Total Politics and the Political Book Awards that do absolutely nothing to promote a right of centre political agenda.
There's nothing wrong with those initiatives but, politically speaking, what's the point? What, if anything, is Ashcroft trying to achieve or is he happy simply to be a political philanthropist?
Why, if you believe in Conservative values (or free market capitalism), would you create a platform that gives a Lifetime Achievement award to Tony Benn? I could go on.
The Political Book Awards were co-sponsored, surprisingly, by Paddy Power. Sensing our confusion, perhaps, CEO Patrick Kennedy told the audience that the 25-year-old company has a keen interest in political betting.
For the record, on Wednesday night Ed Miliband was quoted by Paddy Power at 10/11 to be Britain's next prime minister after David Cameron.
Boris Johnson was second favourite at 8/1 and Gyles Brandreth – well, Gyles was 500/1.
For me the highlight of the evening was speaking to Jemima Khan. OK, it wasn't a conversation as such. She stole in front of me while I was waiting to collect my coat from the cloakroom.
She was so charming about her faux pas that I couldn't bring myself to do what I normally do when someone jumps the queue. ("Oi, you ..." etc) Instead we exchanged pleasantries for, oh, five seconds or so.
On the train home I kicked myself for being so tongue-tied. It could have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship but, not for the first time, I blew it. Damn.
Update: It seems that Fiona Phillips has previous when it comes to addressing audiences. According to the Telegraph last year, "The television presenter launched into a furious rant when she went back to her old school to address the pupils". What a bore.
Update: Iain Dale has written about the event here - An Evening at the IMAX: The Political Book of the Year Awards 2013.
See also: A Glittering Night Out with Iain Dale (Jerry Hayes)
Reader Comments (1)
Wearing a pair of black, fishnet-style stockings, Widdecombe made the biggest impression
Was that all?