Rishi Sunak confesses to a love for Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’ books

Rishi Sunak has said he is a “genuine fan” of Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’ novels about sex and debauchery amongst the upper classes.

The Prime Minister revealed that reading the bestselling author's books is part of his escapism from the rigours of his day job in Downing Street.

In an interview with ITV’s This Morning show on Thursday, he said it was “unclear how” his love of the books emerged, but that he was now hooked. Mr Sunak said he enjoyed the Rutshire Chronicles series which includes Riders, Rivals, Polo, and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous.

He made the remarks when asked about his biggest regret. He joked that his biggest regret now was that he has to discuss his passion for the racy novels.

He added: “I'm unclear how that has emerged. I'm a genuine fan. She has done lots of different books, that is the set of books I like. You need to have escapism in your life and that is a good thing. You need to be able to get away from the day to day, whether it is books or TV.”

The Rutshire Chronicles centre on an upper-class show jumping and polo set and their brushes with sex, adultery, scandal and death. Its main recurring character, Rupert Campbell-Black, was partly inspired by Andrew Parker-Bowles, the former husband of Queen Camilla.

Rivals, which was published in 1988, is being adapted into a TV series starring David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer.

Mr Sunak has previously spoken about his tastes in TV, revealing in a 2021 interview that he enjoyed watching the Netflix series Emily In Paris. The show, which he binge-watched during lockdown, centres on a young American marketing executive who moves to the French capital.

Cabinet colleagues have gently teased the Prime Minister over his love for the programme, according to The Spectator magazine.

He has also revealed himself to be a fan of another Netflix show, Bridgerton, a romantic series about high-society families in Regency era London.

Mr Sunak said when he was chancellor that “all my favourite books are fiction” but that the rigours of the job meant he had little time to read.