Jeremy Clarkson’s book about Diddly Squat Farm has made its way onto the bookshelves of No10.
‘Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm’ was written by Mr Clarkson so readers could get a glimpse of what it is like to start a farming career from scratch with no previous experience.
With many people drawn to the book after watching the Amazon prime series Clarkson’s Farm, a freedom of information request made by The Spectator has found that Mr Clarkson’s book about his adventures in the countryside has also been a popular read with cabinet ministers.
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After former prime minister Boris Johnson decided to revive the convention of everyone who served in cabinet donating a book to the PM’s library, the FOI has found the library has two copies of Mr Clarkson’s book.
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Alistair Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland, and Mark Spencer, minister of state for farming, both donated the book and it is joined on the shelves by Mr Johnson’s ‘The Churchill Factor’, which was donated by himself, and ‘Zero’ which was written and donated by the chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt.
Jacob Rees Mogg donated gifted ‘An Humbler Heaven’ which was written by his father William Rees Mogg, who was the editor of The Times between 1967 and 1981.
The tradition of cabinet members donating books was first started by Ramsay MacDonald in 1931 and it is understood he believed that if ministers had written their own books then they should donate them.
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