Discover how the campaign to end slavery divided Britain and was almost thwarted by some of the most powerful and famous figures of the era.**SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING**In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire. But for the next 25 years more than 700, 000 people remained enslaved, due to the immensely powerful pro-slavery group the ‘West India Interest’.This ground-breaking history discloses the extent to which the ‘Interest’ were supported by nearly every figure of the British establishment — fighting, not to abolish slavery, but to maintain it for profit. Gripping and unflinching, The Interest is the long-overdue expos of one of Britain’s darkest, most turbulent times.A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR’Scintillating . . . compulsively readable’ Guardian’A magnificent book . . . riveting’ Evening Standard’A critical piece of history and a devastating expos ‘ Shashi Tharoor, author of Inglorious Empire’Thoroughly researched and potent’ David Lammy MP’Essential reading’ Simon Sebag Montefiore