MPs turn to tax-zealous French economist on the beach this summer

As the Summer Recess nears its end, ComRes today publishes its annual list of the books MPs have been reading on the beach this year, based on a survey of 154 MPs. This year, the top read across all three major parties is economist Thomas Piketty’s 577-page tome, Capital in the 21st Century. Boris Johnson described Piketty, who advocates 80% income taxes on high earners and a global wealth tax, as a “French gloomadon popper”. But that, together with a controversy over claims of errors in Piketty’s use of statistics to make his case, clearly hasn’t put MPs off from making him their first-choice holiday read.

Surprisingly, Piketty’s doorstop-sized whopper tops the charts for MPs of all parties, including Conservatives, although last year’s winner, Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher, remains popular in second place. Among Labour MPs, Piketty shares top slot with Donna Tartt’s Pullitzer Prize-winningThe Goldfinch. In second place among Liberal Democrat MPs is When Britain Burned the White House, Peter Snow’s account of the 1814 invasion of Washington. With an eye on the future of the special relationship post-Obama, Hilary Clinton’s Hard Choices is also a highly popular choice across the parties.

ComRes Chairman Andrew Hawkins said “Both the subject matter and the length of books selected suggest that MPs won’t have spent much time with their buckets and spades this year. Particularly surprising is that Piketty is the top Tory read this summer - a case, perhaps, of knowing your enemy’s strategy. It is all distressingly more serious than in 2013 when Fifty Shades of Grey was the top choice…..MPs have migrated from smacks to tax in just two years.”

MPs’ Summer Reading

All MPs

2014
1. Capital in the 21st Century– Thomas Piketty
2. Margaret Thatcher – Charles Moore
3. Hard Choices – Hilary Clinton
4. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

2013
1. Margaret Thatcher - Charles Moore
2. This Boy - Alan Johnson
3. Five Days in May - Andrew Adonis
4. Edmund Burke - Jesse Norman

Conservative MPs

2014
1. Capital in the 21st Century– Thomas Piketty
2. Margaret Thatcher – Charles Moore
3. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

2013
1. Margaret Thatcher - Charles Moore

Labour MPs

2014
1. Capital in the 21st Century– Thomas Piketty
=. The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt

2013
1. This Boy - Alan Johnson

Liberal Democrat MPs

2014
1. Capital in the 21st Century– Thomas Piketty
2. When Britain Burned the White House – Peter Snow

2013
1. What Has Nature Ever Done For Us - Tony Juniper