One of the most interesting is Michael Macmanus's Tory Pride and Prejudice: The Conservative Party and homosexual law reform.

BBC: Booktalk: The political books of 2011

Merseyside-born Costello, born Declan MacManus, emerged on the back of the late 1970s UK punk rock movement with his band The Attractions, recording a string of successful albums including This Year's Model, Armed Forces and Get Happy.

BBC: The couple met during last year's Grammys

Mr Macmanus, a former ministerial adviser, traces the Conservatives' changing attitudes from the anti-gay crusading of 1950s home secretary David Maxwell Fyfe to an era when a Conservative prime minister can support gay marriage at his party conference and win a round of applause.

BBC: Booktalk: The political books of 2011