Sir Vince’s ‘racy’ thriller does enough to avoid the Bad Sex Award shortlist

SIR Vince Cable has managed to avoid an appearance on the Bad Sex Award shortlist despite multiple nominations, the judge has revealed.

The Liberal Democrat leader’s debut thriller, Open Arms, tells the story of the blossoming love affair between a British politician and the heir to an Indian arms manufacturer. But despite having been described as “racy” and full of “sex and political intrigue”, the sex scenes in the MP’S book were considered “very discreet” by the Literary Review’s notorious awards.

Frank Brinkley, one of the judges, noted the wealth of nominations the novel attracted but said “it does not qualify simply because its author is an MP”.

Sir Vince admitted earlier this year that he had been careful to try to avoid featuring on the dreaded shortlist, when he said of the thriller: “It is not actually about sex – the sex is very discreet. It is not going to win the bad sex award.”

This year, the shortlist includes Wilbur Smith and David Churchill, the co-writers of War Cry, and Laurent Binet, for a passage in The Seventh Function of Language.