Biteback MD and author Iain Dale was out of London last night hosting An Audience With Ann Widdecombe, so Mehdi Hasan, senior editor of the New Statesman (who just happens to be within spitting distance of becoming a fully-fledged Biteback author) took the reins of Iain’s Book Club on LBC. And on the show last night was Francis Beckett – the seasoned Biteback author of What did the Baby Boomers ever do for us? and The Prime Ministers Who Never Were. There was so much Biteback love in the room that Big Cheese’s assistant was quite overcome with emotion. He’s only just recovering now really, thanks to the help of some Rolos.
The joy of the LBC Book Club is that guests have a full 30 minutes to discuss their book. So last night, Mehdi had plenty of time to quiz Francis on The Prime Ministers Who Never Were and the two of them covered everything from the merits of a Marxist deterministic historicism to the utility of the millennium dome (which Francis insists on referring to as ‘that shed’).
The first part of Francis’s slot was reserved for an in-depth consideration of the purpose of this kind of historical writing: how does allowing authors to let their counterfactual imagination to run wild – sometimes even leading them into spectacularly fanciful, albeit amusing, territory – benefit the reader, especially when the book is written as if portraying the truth? Is this parlour game merely a bit of fun?
And after a break for the news and weather, Mehdi challenged Francis on some of the individuals who, in The Prime Ministers Who Never Were at least, made it through the door of No. 10 as Prime Minsiters – did Tebbit really have the ambition for the top job? Was Foot, who led the Labour Party to a humiliating defeat in the 1983 general election really close to the title? Could J. R. Clynes really have prevented the Second World War by having the foresight to curtail somewhat the extent of the Treaty of Versailles’s attack on Germany? And would a John Smith premiership really have resulted in a ten-year-long rule by Ken Livingstone in a socialist utopia?
With so many questions to consider, you'd best get your hands on a copy of The Prime Ministers Who Never Were, available here priced £14.99
Mehdi’s interview with Francis can be heard as a podcast here.
Iain’s latest books are also available now: Talking Politics: political conversations with Iain Dale priced £14.99 and Margaret Thatcher: In her own words priced £12.99
*** Biteback will be at the London Book Fair from 11 – 13 April at Earls Court, London. Come and say hi to us at stand J205!***