Anthony Sampson spent forty years dissecting the power-structures of the UK, with unique access to people at the top, to produce his best-selling Anatomies of Britain. In this intensely topical book, he looks at the whole panoply of power, from an embattled Number Ten to the murky intelligence spooks, from corporate boardrooms to banks and pension funds.

Who Runs This Place? is written not just for those inside the Westminster Bubble. It is addressed in fresh and vivid terms to those who need to understand the institutions and careers they are choosing, and the bosses who will influence their whole future. This book is the last of a series of six - all six books are in Rabbits Road Institute Library collection. Sampson died in 2004, shortly after Who Runs This Place? was published.

“Anthony Sampson’s ‘Anatomy of Britain’ books explain how the country works. They list the people, institutions, organisations and companies which have power in the UK. They looks at what they do, and how they’re changing. The books are chatty, name people, tells you where they went to school, what they’re like, what they can do with their powers. The series began in 1962, with updates every 10 years or so, until the last book in 2004 and are full of history which still shapes our lives now – Labour’s struggles in the 1980s for example. Reading them was an eye opener, a simple education about how things work. Understanding these things gives you power too.”
— Peter Law