Britannia Unchained

Britannia Unchained
Author
LanguageEnglish
GenreTreatise
Published13 September 2012 Palgrave Macmillan
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages152
ISBN1137032235
This article is part of
a series about
Liz Truss
Foreign Secretary
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Ministry and term
Policies
Bibliography
Post-premiership
Liz Truss's signature

Britannia Unchained: Global Lessons for Growth and Prosperity is a political book written by several British Conservative Party MPs and released on 13 September 2012. Its authors present a treatise, arguing that Britain should adopt a different and radical approach to business and economics or risk "an inevitable slide into mediocrity".[1]

The book was written by Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore and Liz Truss, five Conservative MPs who were elected in May 2010 and belong to the party's Thatcherite-leaning Free Enterprise Group. The text sets out their vision for the United Kingdom's future as a leading player in the global economy, arguing that Britain needs to adopt a far-reaching form of free market economics, with fewer employment laws and suggesting the United Kingdom should learn lessons from the business and economic practices of other countries, including Canada, Australia and the tiger economies of East Asia like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.[1][2]

Four of the five co-authors became part of the cabinet of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019,[3] with co-author Liz Truss becoming Prime Minister on 6 September 2022; she appointed Kwarteng as her Chancellor the same day. Thirty-eight days into his tenure, Kwarteng was removed from his post following the turbulent market reaction to his mini-budget,[4][5][6] while Truss resigned as Prime Minister eleven days later. Patel resigned as Home Secretary on 6 September 2022 and Raab as Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord Chancellor on 21 April 2023.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Guardian-2012-08-22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference NewStatesman-2012-09-13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Eaton, George (24 July 2019). "Britannia Unchained: the free-market book that defines Boris Johnson's new cabinet". New Statesman. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  4. ^ Walker, Peter; Crerar, Pippa; Mason, Rowena (14 October 2022). "Liz Truss sacks Kwasi Kwarteng before corporation tax U-turn". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  5. ^ Taylor, Adam (29 September 2022). "Kwasi Kwarteng and the ideology behind the British pound's collapse". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  6. ^ Dettmer, Jamie (29 September 2022). "Britain can't buck the markets". Politico Europe. Retrieved 15 October 2022.