[TGS]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

According to
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/per.../articles/1017
In 1988 "Michael Foot was chair and was accused of backing Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses because Rushdie was a member of the Labour Party."

Whether Michael Foot backed Salman Rushdie because they were both members of the Labour Party or because he thought the Satanic Verses was the best book hardly matters since Peter Carey won the prize in 1988. Which tends to support Harry's assertion that the prize is not political, (though, of course, individual judges may be).