A test of Wills
- 17 Mar 08, 03:40 PM
I’ve just finished a thriller written by the only remaining member of the government to have published a novel (at least by my reckoning). The novelist in question is Michael Wills, a Minister of State at the Justice Department, who, for some strange reason, writes under the name of David McKeowen (especially odd when he then identifies himself as Michael Wills on page one).
Wills’s first novel Grip is not about politics in any way, but a thriller about what happens to a middle class family when their son suddenly finds himself owing £30,000 to a violent drug dealer. It doesn’t pretend to be great literature, but is certainly an excellent read, examining the psychologies of each of the different players. It would make a great film or TV drama. He has also published a second thriller, Trapped, and more books are on the way.
Michael Wills, a distinctly Brownite member of the government, claims to have had six careers in his adult lifetime. Looking at his Who’s Who entry these seem to be: diplomat, TV producer, businessman (as founder of the independent TV company Juniper), MP, minister, and now novelist.
Parliament and British politics boasts a surprising number of novelists over the years – from Disraeli and John Buchan to Jeffrey Archer and Iain Duncan Smith – and Winston Churchill even published a novel early on in his career. Other novelists to have held ministerial office since Labour came to power are Helen Liddell, Chris Mullin and Peter Hain.
My complete list of British politician novelists runs to 41 names, as follows, but I’d love to know of any that I’ve missed:
Rupert Allason (MP)
Jeffrey Archer (MP)
Joe Ashton (MP)
Stuart Bell (MP)
Melvyn Bragg (peer)
John Buchan (MP)
Winston Churchill (MP)
Philip Collins (adviser)
Julian Critchley (MP)
Edwina Currie (MP)
Bertie Denham (peer)
Benjamin Disraeli (MP)
Michael Dobbs (adviser)
Iain Duncan Smith (MP)
Walter Feinburgh (MP)
Maurice Edelman (MP)
Peter Hain (MP)
David Hart (adviser)
Roy Hattersley (MP)
Douglas Hurd (MP)
PD James (peer)
Boris Johnson (MP)
Stanley Johnson (MEP)
Robert Kilroy Silk (MP)
Helen Liddell (MP)
Bob Marshall-Andrews (MP)
Chris Mullin (MP)
Amanda Platell (adviser)
Lance Price (adviser)
Barbara Rendell (peer)
Tim Renton (MP)
Brian Sedgemore (MP)
Martin Sixsmith (adviser)
CP Snow (minister/peer)
John Stonehouse (MP)
Michael Spicer (MP)
David Walder (MP)
Ann Widdecombe (MP)
Michael Wills (MP (as David McKeowen))
CURRENTLY WRITING:
Chris Bryant (MP)
Alastair Campbell (adviser)
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Should they not be running the country?
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Mr Wills should be writing about political skullduggery. Does anyone recall how he was selected as the Labour candidate for Swindon North?
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Another politician writer is Bill Newton Dunn (MEP)
See
novel :
- The Devil Knew Not (the first political story set in the European Parliament) 2000
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Another politician writer is Bill Newton Dunn (Liberal Democrat MEP for the East Midlands)-
See
novel :
- The Devil Knew Not (the first political story set in the European Parliament) 2000
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EDWARD LEAMY: (1848 - 1904)
M.P. for Waterford (when of course Ireland formed part of the house). He published many books of Irish fairytales, most famously, the posthumous By the Barrow River and Other Stories (1907) and Irish Fairy Tales (1898
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Oona King is reported to be writing a novel
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One more name to add to your list is that of the pundit and former Conservative MP Gyles Brandreth.
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