A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

A DAILY MAIL BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOK OF THE YEAR

A DAILY MIRROR BEST NON-FICTION BOOK

AN IRISH TIMES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

How did Britain become the servant of the world's most powerful and corrupt men?

From accepting multi-million pound tips from Russian oligarchs, to the offshore tax havens, meet Butler Britain...

In his Sunday Times-bestselling expose, Oliver Bullough reveals how the UK took up its position at the elbow of the worst people on Earth: the oligarchs, kleptocrats and gangsters. Though the UK prides itself on values of fair play and the rule of law, few countries do more to frustrate global anti-corruption efforts. From the murky origins of tax havens and gambling centres in the British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar to the influence of oligarchs in the British establishment, Butler to the World is the story of how we became a nation of Jeeveses - and how it doesn't have to be this way.

Autorentext

Oliver Bullough

Klappentext

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

AS SEEN ON LED BY DONKEYS

'Brilliant'
Marina Hyde, Guardian

'A savage analysis of Britain's soul. As essential as Orwell at his best'
Peter Pomerantsev

'Horribly brilliant'
James O'Brien

How did Britain become the servant of the world's most powerful and corrupt men?
From accepting multi-million pound tips from Russian oligarchs, to enabling Gibraltar to become an offshore gambling haven, meet Butler Britain...

The Suez Crisis of 1956 was Britain's twentieth-century nadir, the moment when the once superpower was bullied into retreat. In the immortal words of former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson, 'Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role.' But the funny thing was, Britain had already found a role. It even had the costume. The leaders of the world just hadn't noticed it yet.

Butler to the World reveals how the UK took up its position at the elbow of the worst people on Earth: the oligarchs, kleptocrats and gangsters. We pride ourselves on values of fair play and the rule of law, but few countries do more to frustrate global anti-corruption efforts. We are now a nation of Jeeveses, snobbish enablers for rich halfwits of considerably less charm than Bertie Wooster. It doesn't have to be that way.