Parliamentary Book Award for Best Political Book by a Non-Parliamentarian

The Parliamentary Book Awards were launched by the Booksellers Association and the Publishers Association in 2016 to champion the best of political writing and recognise the important link between politics and the book world. The awards celebrate parliamentary writing across three categories: Best Biography, Memoir, or Autobiography by a Parliamentarian; Best Non-Biographical Book by a Parliamentarian; and Best Political Book by a non-Parliamentarian. Each year, publishers are invited to nominate titles and authors for the awards, with booksellers selecting the shortlists, and parliamentarians vote for the winner in each category.

The Parliamentary Book Awards are awarded for the previous year, for example in 2022 the 2021 Award is voted for and announced.

WINNER 2023

Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors

Chorley, Matt ISBN: 9780008622060
Hardback

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Forget Westminster bust-ups and PMQs, some of the key events that have shaped modern British politics happened not in the cloisters of parliament or Downing Street’s many corridors of power, but in car parks, village halls and seaside resorts where the mundane have played host to the mighty. From Pitt the Younger’s Putney Heath duel to finding Margaret Thatcher a voice coach on a train, Harold Wilson’s ‘Scilly’ season holidays to John Major’s dental appointment clearing his path to No10 - these (and many more) are the places where chance meetings, untimely deaths and snap, sometimes daft, decisions changed the course of politics.

Matt Chorley has spent almost two decades covering Westminster, interviewing prime ministers, mocking ministers and chronicling the serious, and sometimes unintentionally absurd, events which act as unlikely turning points in the direction of a nation. Illustrated by award-winning political cartoonist Morten Morland, Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors combines Matt’s insider-knowledge, smart analysis and detailed research with his background in comedy to create an hilarious history of how politics actually happens.

- Browns Books Synopsis

SHORTLIST 2023

Campbell, Alastair ISBN: 9781804943137
Paperback / softback

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Gregory, Philippa ISBN: 9780008601706
Hardback

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Toynbee, Polly ISBN: 9781838958350
Hardback

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Peston, Robert ISBN: 9781399700757
Hardback

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Chorley, Matt ISBN: 9780008622060
Hardback

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Each year, publishers are invited to nominate titles and authors for the awards, with booksellers selecting the shortlists, and parliamentarians vote for the winner in each category.