Failures of State cover art

Failures of State

The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle with Coronavirus

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Failures of State

By: Jonathan Calvert, George Arbuthnott
Narrated by: Mark Elstob
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*

A GUARDIAN AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘An astonishing book’ James O’Brien

‘A gripping, devastating read’ Sunday Times

The inside story of the UK’s response to the pandemic from the Insight investigations unit at The Sunday Times

Failures of State recounts the extraordinary political decisions taken at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government during the global pandemic.

Fully updated and corroborated by hundreds of sources, this is the insider’s account of how the government sleepwalked into disaster and tried to cover up its role in the tragedy. Thrillingly told, it exposes one of the most scandalous failures of political leadership in British history.

‘A damning indictment’ Alan Johnson, Observer

‘A devastating piece of journalism’ Andrew Marr

‘This is a scandal’ Piers Morgan

©2022 Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Medicine & Health Care Industry Politics & Government Medicine Government China

Listeners also enjoyed...

 How They Broke Britain cover art
Most relevant  
Extremely well written account of the complete and utter incompetence of the government and particularly of the clown of a prime minister at the time. Frightening to hear of some of their decisions that were glossed over at the time and I think the audiobook is better than the hardcopy in this instance.

Excellent chronicle of events

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thegovernment's mishandling ofthe Coronavirus crisis - Boris Johnson's culpability revealed as close to that of a criminal.

Exceptionally well articulated decimation of .....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A damning indictment of a government that showed nothing but arrogance, incompetence and a shocking contemptuous of the British people.

Shocking!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Clear, comprehensive and absolutely damning indictment of this government’s incompetence and malign wilfulness when failing to handle the ongoing pandemic.

Wonderfully incisive and utterly damning

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I had heard and read a lot of things that the British government did wrong in relation to covid. In preparing for any kind of pandemic, in failing to listen to expert advice, in how they responded to the problem and in how they cynically exploited it for their own gains.

But nothing could prepare me for some of the revelations in this book.

If you are labouring under the belief that the government did its best, listen to this and be thoroughly disabused of that view!

Absolutely mind blowing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Reliving this wasn’t easy, but it was a vital read. It’s an incredibly detailed account, but presented in a very accessible way. Thank you.

Exceptional and forensic look at utter the utter failure of the covid government

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.