In yet another unlikely-sounding moment for British politics, Rishi Sunak is reportedly a fan of Jilly Cooper’s erotic romance novel Riders – perhaps the very definition of the 1980s “bonkbuster”.
While a prime minister’s best-loved tome is usually a worthy affair, the current resident of No.10 apparently prefers something a bit more steamy – at least that’s according to the Spectator.
It’s worth noting the Spectator is well-sourced when it comes to Sunak: the magazine’s former political editor is now one of the PM’s closest Downing Street aides (and the best man at his wedding). So it’s not come from nowhere.
Whether Riders is actually one of his favourites, and not an attempt to humanise the geeky one-time tech bro (he has in the past expressed a very specific fondness for Mexican Coca-Cola) is anyone’s guess.
Let’s remember Sunak is looking to reset following last week’s local elections drubbing for the Tories.
Cooper’s oeuvre captures the drama and excess of Britain’s affluent elite through her Rutshire Chronicles series. They do a lot of horse riding, among other things.
The action is focussed on galloping aristocrat Rupert Campbell-Black – later a Tory minister. Perhaps more famous is the book’s original cover of a female bottom clad in white jodhpurs and a male hand.
“Sex and horses: who could ask for more?,” noted the Sunday Telegraph in 1985, as the novel went on to become a runaway success.