Moore wins Political Book of the Year Award

20.03.14 | Joshua Farrington - The Bookseller

Charles Moore triumphed at the Paddy Power Political Book Awards, taking home the the prize for Political Book of the Year for the first part of his authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher.

Moore took home a £10,000 cheque, donated and presented by Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC, for Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography (Allen Lane). The book beat five others in the shortlist, made up of This Boy by Alan Johnson (Bantam Press), Empire of the Deep by Ben Wilson (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Power Trip by Damian McBride (Biteback Publishing) and Perilous Question by Antonia Fraser (Weidenfeld & Nicolson).

The prize was judged by Lord Ashcroft, Mary Beard, Chris Bryant MP, Keith Simpson MP, Carolyn Quinn and Peter Riddell. Beard said of the winning book: "This is an elegant and sometimes witty book; it is the kind of authoritative study that people will be referring to for decades – or even longer."
Collecting his award in the ceremony last night (19th March), held at the BFI IMAX in London, Moore said the prize was a boost to his confidence while writing the second half, adding: "It gives strength to my arm if I have to tell my publisher the second book might take a little longer."

The Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Lord Dobbs, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, and the author of the House of Cards trilogy which has been adapted into British and US TV series. The award was presented on screen by mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
Other winners on the night included Simon Sebag Montefiore, who won the Political Fiction award for his novel, One Night in Winter (Century). The Political Biography award was won by Lucy Hughes-Hallett for The Pike (Fourth Estate), which has already won the Costa Biography Award, the Duff Cooper Prize, and the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Debut Political book was won by Iain Martin for Making it Happen (Simon & Schuster), an account of RBS in the financial crisis, who was given a £3,000 prize by Lord Ashcroft. Political History book was won by Richard Davenport-Hines for An English Affair, while Damian Barr took home the Political Humour and Satire award for Maggie & Me (Bloomsbury).

Polemic of the Year was won by Daniel Hannan MEP for Freedom and Why it Matters (Head of Zeus). Anthony King and Ivor Crewe won the Practical Politics award for The Blunders of Our Governments (Oneworld), while the International Affairs award was won by Margaret MacMIllan for The War That Ended Peace (Profile).

Iain Dale, founder of the awards, said: "These awards celebrate the fantastic breadth of political writing in the UK today, and I hope that they will encourage more people to both read and write political literature."
This is the second year the awards have been held.