Mandelson brought to book by MPs

Published on Tuesday 17 August 2010 14:52

Books about the New Labour government feature highly in MPs' summer reading lists ahead of the publication of former prime minister Tony Blair's hotly-anticipated memoirs.

Politicians have made Lord Mandelson's The Third Man top choice, with diaries by former minister Chris Mullin and Mr Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell also popular.

But almost half of the MPs surveyed chose to escape the Westminster bubble, choosing novels such as Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, and 6 per cent said they would not have time to read a book during the recess.

Some 152 MPs responded to the Waterstone's survey, with eight - including four Conservatives - saying they would choose Lord Mandelson's book. Mr Blair's A Journey, which is not published until September, was chosen by one Tory and one Labour MP.

The former prime minister announced this week that he would donate all the profits from his memoirs to a new sports centre for injured troops.

Waterstone's politics buyer Andrew Lake said: "Mandelson was a key figure in New Labour, one of the most controversial political figures of his generation.

This is a must read book for anyone who lived through the New Labour years, or for new MPs wanting to learn the dark arts of spin."