Vassal State

'Provocative and detailed ... Excellent' The Telegraph

'Shocking and meticulous' Danny Dorling

'An eye-opening revelation ... a must-read' Joel Bakan

THE TELEGRAPH BEST BOOKS OF 2024

British politicians love to vaunt the benefits of the UK’s supposed ‘special relationship’ with the US. But are we really America’s economic partner – or its colony?

Vassal State lays bare the extent to which US corporations own and control Britain’s economy: how American business chiefs decide what we’re paid, what we buy and how we buy it. US companies have carved up Britain between them, siphoning off enormous profits, buying up our most lucrative firms and assets, and extracting huge rents from UK PLC – all while paying little or no tax. Meanwhile, policymakers, from Whitehall mandarins to NHS chiefs, shape their decisions to suit the whims of our American corporate overlords.

Based on his 40 years of business experience, devastating new research and interviews with the major players, Angus Hanton exposes why Britain has become the poor transatlantic relation – and what we can do to change it.