Accpeting the 2025 Westminster Book Awards on February 12 are, from right, Robin Wilson, Harold Wilson’s son; Dasha Navalnaya, Alexei Navalny’s daughter; and Member of Parliament Jess Phillips. Image: Westminster Book Prize
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘How To Address Polarization’
As many of our readers will recall, the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary Book Awards program from the Publishers Association and Booksellers Association has been renamed the Westminster Book Awards in this, its ninth year. Overnight (February 12 into 13), the program named its 2025 winners in an event staged at the British Houses of Parliament.
The program’s three categories are:
- Fiction or Nonfiction by a Parliamentarian (winner: Let’s Be Honest: Truth, Lies, and Politics)
- Biography by a Parliamentarian (winner: Harold Wilson: Twentieth Century Man)
- Political Book by a Non-Parliamentarian (winner: Patriot: A Memoir)
These are the UK’s only political book awards curated by bookstores and voted for by parliamentarians.
Previous winners have included Sebastian Payne, Baroness Floella Benjamin, Michael Ashcroft, Mark Carney, Penny Mordaunt MP, Andrew Mitchell MP, Nick Clegg, Baroness Jowell, Baroness Harman, Iain Dale, James O’Brien and Matt Chorley.
We’ll re-list below the shortlists, with each category’s winner moved to the top of its list. Most poignant, of course, is the win for Patriot: A Memoir by the late Alexei Navalny, who was reported to have died by the Russian prison service in 2024.
Dan Conway
Speaking for the Publishers Association, CEO Dan Conway is quoted, saying, “Congratulations to this year’s hugely deserving winners.
“These books showcase the breadth, quality, bravery and importance of political writing which is arguably more important than ever to help us understand the world in which we are living.
“We were delighted to welcome parliamentarians, authors, publishers and booksellers to the Houses of Parliament to celebrate these books and their authors.”
Meryl Halls
And Meryl Halls, the Booksellers Association’s managing director, says, “At this inflection point where we are all concerned with how to address polarization and counterbalance misinformation, the role of brave, nuanced, and well researched political writing and the bookshops that play a crucial role in curating and championing them has never been more important.
“Therefore, we’re proud to have come together united at Westminster tonight to celebrate the winning and shortlisted books and authors that exemplify the power and importance of political writing.”
Fiction or Nonfiction by a Parliamentarian
► Let’s Be Honest: Truth, Lies, and Politics by Jess Phillips (Simon & Schuster UK / Gallery UK)
- Another England: How to Reclaim Our National Story by Caroline Lucas (Penguin Random House UK / Hutchinson Heinemann)
- The Inequality of Wealth: Why It Matters and How To Fix It by Liam Byrne (Bloomsbury)
Biography by a Parliamentarian
A point of interest here for many of our readers who are familiar with the London independent house Swift Press for its publication of Richard V. Reeves‘ Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It. The press now has a Westminster Book Awards shortlistee for Alan Johnson’s biography of Harold Wilson. It’s among the shortlists in the biography category of the Westminster Book Awards.
► Harold Wilson: Twentieth Century Man by Alan Johnson (Swift Press)
- Rivals in the Storm: How Lloyd George Seized Power, Won the War and Lost His Government by Damian Collins (Bloomsbury)
- Eight Weeks: Looking Back, Moving Forward, Defying the Odds by Baroness Lola Young (Penguin Random House)
Political Book by a Non-Parliamentarian
This year’s shortlist in political work from non-parliamentarians features Patriot: A Memoir by the late Alexei Navalny and the BBC journalist Sarah Rainsford’s Goodbye to Russia: A Personal Reckoning From the Ruins of War (Bloomsbury). The two books were published two months apart, Rainsford’s in August and Navalny’s in October.
► Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny, translated by Arch Tait and Stephen Dalziel (Penguin Random House UK/ Bodley Head)
- Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence by Mishal Husain (HarperCollins / Fourth Estate)
- The Lie of the Land: Who Really Cares for the Countryside by Guy Shrubsole (HarperCollins UK / William Collins)
- Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It by Sam Freedman (Pan Macmillan)
- Goodbye to Russia: A Personal Reckoning From the Ruins of War by Sarah Rainsford (Bloomsbury)
More from Publishing Perspectives on publishing and book awards is here, more from us on the United Kingdom’s book market is here, more on the Publishers Association is here, more on nonfiction is here, and more on political books is here.