POWER IN THE PEOPLE: Not the People in Power

'I want this book to inspire people, give them a blueprint for fighting their own battles, and challenge the status quo. To see that together, we are always stronger. To understand that those who stand in the way of change cannot do so forever.' Barrister Michael Mansfield KC has spent his career fighting injustice, persecution and corruption. Be it the Birmingham Six, Bloody Sunday, Stephen Lawrence, the Marchioness Disaster, Hillsborough or Grenfell, he has come to learn one thing - that people power is unstoppable. Time and again he has witnessed governments, police forces, legal institutions and the establishment try to block change and maintain the status quo in order to protect their own interests, but almost every time he has seen that passion, perseverance, collectivity and courage create a powerful momentum that is increasingly difficult to stop. Mansfield is probably the greatest civil liberties lawyer this country has ever produced, and he charts many of his cases in this extraordinary book, a brilliant history of struggle for justice in a system corrupted by political miscarriage. He also includes the Orgreave Miners and the Guildford 4 and the Mangrove Nine and Lockerbie. Following the tragic death of his daughter by suicide in 2015, Mansfield and his wife set up the charity SOS. His book is part-memoir, part-manifesto. 270pp.