Biteback Bites Back
Biteback Publishing, the independent book publisher so revered by many of our politicians and those connected to our political system, is five years old this year. It is Britain’s leading publisher of political and current affairs titles. It also publishes espionage, general non fiction, sport and some classic political fiction. Its sister imprint, the Robson Press publishes celebrity biography, humour and accessible history.
The Managing Director of Biteback is Iain Dale, one of Britain’s leading political commentators and bloggers, and a presenter on LBC Radio.
Dale is a former political lobbyist and financial journalist. He has written or edited more than twenty books including Margaret Thatcher: A Tribute in Words & Pictures and the Little Book of Boris.
Dale is an openly gay man and indeed apparently was the first openly gay Tory MP parliamentary candidate. He entered into a civil partnership with his long-term partner John Simmons on 15 June 2008 at Wadhurst Castle in East Sussex. They have been together since 1995. Simmons, along with Dale, are the two Directors of Biteback, Simmons being also the Company Secretary. I set this out because it has a lot of relevance to what comes below.
A rather interesting spat within the book world has developed recently. It follows the review by Roger Lewis in the Spectator of a book published by Robson Press on the late Dusty Springfield. Lewis is a Wales born literary journalist and highly regarded author, a former Oxford don, who has first-class degrees and honours from St. Andrews, Magdalen and Wolfson.
Dale and others in his company have accused Lewis of being homophobic in his article and as a consequence have withdrawn the offer of a book contract to him. In a letter to The Spectator, Dale said: “I’m surprised and appalled by your decision to publish Roger Lewis’ review of our book Dusty: An Intimate Portrait of a Musical Legend. The reviewer clearly displays homophobic sentiments towards his subject and, indeed, a litany of other lesbian celebrities. The reasoning behind your decision is as incomprehensible to me as his overt homophobia is. We had been discussing with Mr Lewis the possibility of publishing his next book. He has just been told those discussions are at an end.”
Lewis in turn then accused Dale of "totalitarianism" and being obsessed by political correctness.
I have read Lewis' book review and can see how it could offend certain people - particularly if you are a lesbian, I'd have thought. It didn't offend me, but then it takes a lot these days to do that. Indeed if you see the comments attached to the book review I'm very much in a minority - of one! I thought Lewis' review was thorough and interesting enough for me to want to read the book - surely that's the outcome any publisher and author wants from a book review? In linking to it below I leave it to others to form their own view.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/9274711/dusty-by-karen-bartlett-review/
Lewis' work has in the past drawn the attention of the "gay police" who have accused him of being shall I say, not PC in some of the excellent biographies he has written. But at the end of the day Lewis' piece on Dusty Springfield is only an opinion on a book, albeit with a smattering of his own prejudices thrown in. Surely broad minded, liberal people can live with this? I would have thought Iain Dale could have. And surely, you want a book review to stir the loins. Who wants a review so politically correct and carefully crafted so as not to offend that it becomes bland and boring?
So this is where I struggle to agree with Biteback's stance here. As someone who loves books, I think if I was in charge of the Biteback publishing business I would be more focused on whether I wanted this type of book on my publishing list:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Porn-Identity-Spoof-Films/dp/1849546002
I'd rather offer up to my readers something by Roger Lewis than the above any day of the week.
And Lewis' literary ability, in my opinion, puts that of many of Biteback's other clients to shame. If you have ever read, for example, anything written by Denis Macshane or Peter Hain, who use Biteback's services, then you should know exactly what I'm talking about. Read something by Lewis and I reckon it's a pretty safe bet you'll feel intellectually stimulated. Read the other two - and I'm sure many of the other wannabe political authors on Biteback's books - and you'll likely feel cheated at how anodyne the writing of these "authors" is. Often it is carefully coiffured so as not to upset the establishment of which they form part. They fall down as authors and narrators of political history because of an underlying flaw in lots of politicians - they are conditioned over many years to hide things from the public, not to be fully open and candid - and this behaviour is then carried over into their writing, giving their own distorted and prejudiced viewpoints to events in which they have participated. This is interesting to observe, but anathema to those who are really trying to appreciate what made these people tick and how they influenced the world in which we live.
One of Biteback's more recent captures is Damian McBride (curiously the same initials as Denis Macshane) and they have published his book about life in New Labour as a Special Advisor in Gordon Brown's gang. The book is entitled Power Trip and has had quite favourable reviews though McBride is now made as welcome at any Labour Party get-together as a suspected case of Ebola at Heathrow.
Unlike people such as Macshane and Hain, I believe McBride does have a talent with a "pen". His writing will make you "feel". You may feel angry, you may feel you'd like to wring his neck - but at least he has the ability to do that to you with his prose.
In their way of course each of the books by the people referred to above demonstrate their author's own human failings.
In my opinion Macshane is an arrogant, convicted fraudster who despite spending time at Her Majesty's Pleasure still seems to struggle with the concepts of personal responsibility and culpability. He carries a massive chip on his shoulder, feeling he has been made a scapegoat for those MPs who have cheated on expenses. Having spent a few hours inside, the old lag has written the inevitable book about his experiences and is now doing the media rounds banging on about how hopeless and outdated our prison system is. He was on his Twitter account this week saying "Biteback have agreed a special promotional price (below Amazon) for my Prison Diaries. Buy". Please don't - I find it extremely distasteful that so many of our crooked politicians profit from their crimes yet working class criminals struggle to cope on their release and often re-offend. Didn't these politicians make enough money sucking on the public tit for years?
Hain is another arrogant politician among many, a Narcissist, an ambitious opportunist with more faces than the Hydra. For many years he has been the Celebrity Chef of the Commons, prepared to offer his speciality "head of the day" to whoever or whatever he thinks will do him the most good. You can have almost any head you want with your order - he keeps a full stock in his kitchen. And they'll come Aga roasted - naturally. His Biteback published memoirs "Outside In" could well have been called "I, Me and Egotism". That's all I need to say about it in this article.
McBride was an unpleasant Labour attack dog that was not a proscribed breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act, a rottweiler whose job was to emasculate any perceived threat to his owner Gordon. One thing I will say in his favour is that he seems to have mellowed and now has a sense of self awareness, even humility and contrition about the seedier things that went on at Number 10 during his time at Gordon's side.
Yet rather curiously to me, each of the above Labour Party figures placed their literary work with an organisation run by a person well to the Right of the political spectrum. Aren't there any Left Wing publishers out there? Or would these aspiring, so-called Left Wing authors feel they couldn't make as much money from these? After all, it's selling books that's the name of the game and Biteback seemingly offer these people something they do not find elsewhere.
Of course, returning to the matter of Roger Lewis, Dale has the right to listen to the overtures of the "gay police" and to bring into the equation his own feelings too, though he should be able to divorce these from his day to day business decisions. As a gay man he has maybe seen prejudice directed at himself personally as well as that section of the community he is a part of. He owns and is MD of Biteback. He is therefore master of the ship and where she sails. So "handbagging" Roger Lewis is up to him at the end of the day. However I don't agree with what he has done and it significantly diminishes the gene pool at Biteback as a result. Every dog is allowed one bite. But Dale needs to be careful not to make a habit of it.
