It was second time lucky for Alan Hollinghurst, 50, who was nominated in 1994 but lost to James Kelman, the Scottish author whose novel was littered with expletives.

Hollinghurst, who was born in Gloucestershire and lives in London, was singled out for his fourth novel, The Line of Beauty, a satire on Britain in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher, which tells the story of an ambitious new Tory MP. It has been hailed as a subtle tragicomedy of manners and mores.

Chris Smith, Britain’s first openly gay minister and chairman of the judges, said: “It was an incredibly difficult decision, resulting in a winning novel that is exciting, brilliantly written and gets deep under the skin of the Thatcherite 1980s. The search for love, sex and beauty is rarely this exquisitely done.”

For a change the bookies got it right. From the beginning Hollinghurst was one of three favourites, along with David Mitchell and Colm Tóibín.

The Line of Beauty tells the story of a Nick Guest, a young gay Englishman. Fresh from Oxford, the character takes up residence at the top of a grand house occupied by an ambitious Conservative Member of Parliament and his family. It explores the family’s attitude to homosexuality and Guest’s sexual relationships, which begin with Leo, a working-class black man. A later affair, with a beautiful millionaire, change s his life drastically, bringing into question larger fantasies of a ruthless decade.

He pursues sex with abandon. The pages are coloured by sex including, at a time when the Aids epidemic gathered force, unprotected lovemaking.

The international critics have been divided. The Seattle Times described Hollinghurst as “one of the best writers of party scenes since F. Scott Fitzgerald”, but The Wall Street Journal Europe wrote: “Maybe it’s a tribute to the success of the gay-rights movement, and to gay writers’ remarkable penetration in mainstream literature that Nick’s . . . sexual escapades are so boring.”

Hollinghurst studied and taught English at Oxford. His previous novels include The Swimming Pool Library and The Folding Star, shortlisted for the Booker. For several years, he was Deputy Editor of The Times Literary Supplement and picked as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists in 1993.

Last night he saw off competition from established writers and previous Booker nominees. He said that he was “exhilarated” by his win, adding: “I hardly know where I am.” Of the judges’ choice, he said: “It’s a decision I shall be grateful for for the rest of my life.

The shortlist had also included Sarah Hall, Achmat Dangor and Gerard Woodward.

The judges, who included the novelist Tibor Fischer and the writer Robert Macfarlane, took well over two hours to come to their decision.

Macfarlane was among judges who were said to favour Mitchell. In a review for The Sunday Times, he wrote: “The way Mitchell inhabites the different voices of the novel is close is miraculous.”

Martin Higgs, Literary Editor of the booksellers Waterstone’s, said: “The Line of Beauty is a wonderful book . . . I am delighted that this prize will help elevate his writing.”

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