"Masterful... authentic, careful, and terrifying in equal measures", The Secret Barrister

"Chilling. Detailed, objective, and definitive. An urgent warning and work of great significance", James O'Brien

On March 26, 2020, a new law appeared. In eleven pages, it locked down millions of people, confined us to our homes, banned socializing, closed shops, gyms, pubs, places of worship. It curtailed our freedoms more than any other law in history, justified by the rapid spread of a deadly new virus.

You might have expected such a law to be hotly contested in Parliament. But it wasn’t contested at all. An emergency was declared, meaning the law took effect the moment it was signed. The emergency was supposed to last a short time, but it lasted 763 days, allowing ministers to introduce 100 new laws by decree, restricting freedoms more than any other in history—laws that were almost never contested, increasingly changing and confusing the public.

Meanwhile, behind the doors of Downing Street, officials and even the Prime Minister were breaking the very laws they had created. This book tells the astonishing story of the emergency that triggered an Emergency State. A warning from one of the UK's leading human rights lawyers, Emergency State shows us why we must never take our freedoms for granted.

"A gripping narrative of how our democracy came under threat during the Pandemic and why we must never let the Emergency State—almighty yet ignorant and corrupt—dominate again", Lady Hale, former President of the UK Supreme Court.

"Clear, analytical, and compelling, Wagner sets out what happened during the Covid-19 pandemic—and the lessons we need to learn", Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist.

Pages: 240, Dimensions: 13.5x13.5cm