Tim Bouverie wins 2026 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize
The 2026 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize has been awarded to former Alistair Horne Visiting Fellow Tim Bouverie for Allies At War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler published by Bodley Head.
The Prize, set up in memory of the statesman and author Alfred Duff Cooper, celebrates the best
non-fiction published in the United Kingdom.
Allies At War is a fast-paced narrative which captures the tensions, the arguments, the lies and
the squabbles that underlay the network of alliances against Hitler. Artemis Cooper, chair of
judges, says: ‘Allies at War is a vast and far-ranging story, told with an energy and a clarity of
thought that establishes Tim Bouverie as one of our most brilliant young historians.’
Fellow judge (and former Sunday Times Literary Editor) Andrew Holgate added: ‘What makes the
book so special are the contemporary resonances that ring out on every page. We watch
Churchill as he manoeuvres his way through the conflict, trying to inveigle the Americans into
the war, then trying to control Roosevelt and Stalin, and we cannot help but project forward to
today. There are so many echoes with what’s going on now, and it has such contemporary
relevance. It’s an absolutely gripping read.’
Tim Bouverie, a former Channel 4 News political journalist, was the 2020-21 Alistair Horne
Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford. His first book was the Sunday Times bestseller Appeasing
Hitler: Chamberlain Churchill and the Road to War, shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. For Allies At
War, he drew on material from over a hundred archives, including vivid first-hand accounts and
unpublished diaries, to reveal the political drama behind the military events.
The Alistair Horne Fellowship (now in its 56th year) provides financial assistance and membership of St Antony’s College for a candidate prepared to write a significant book of non-fiction for a general readership.
Tim Bouverie said: ‘I am utterly delighted to have won the Duff Cooper Prize. To be included in
the list of names of some the historians and writers I have most admired, including Patrick
Leigh-Fermor, Margaret MacMillan, Julian Jackson and Michael Howard, is a deep honour.’
