Why politicians should avoid sex: it’s not the scandal, it’s the ridicule
The least desired award in writing usually goes to a novelist, but judges for the influential ‘Bad Sex Award’ awarded by Britain’s Literary Review gave a shortlist nod to to former PM Tony Blair’s description—described by the Telegraph as “toe-curling”—of a night of passion with Cherie. “That night she cradled me in her arms and soothed me; told me what I needed to be told; strengthened me,” he writes in A Journey. “On that night of 12 May 1994, I needed that love Cherie gave me, selfishly. I devoured it to give me strength. I was an animal following my instinct….” Blair is in eminent company; his competition includes Martin Amis for The Pregnant Widow, Ian McEwan for Solar and Jonathan Franzen for Freedom. Past winners include Sebastian Faulks and Philip Kerr. The award, a joke to begin with, is starting to have a dampening effect on British literature, at least according to Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate and chairman of the Man Booker Prize judging panel, who recently blamed it for the lack of sex scenes in this year’s Booker entries. “I was very surprised. I thought it was going to be a panorama of sexual activity but it absolutely wasn’t. The Bad Sex Prize has probably put a lot of people off,” he lamented.