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.
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