Michael Mansfield KC: ‘The two-party system is a straitjacket’

The barrister famous for his work on landmark cases such as Grenfell, Stephen Lawrence and the Birmingham Six has written a book about fighting injustice

The Birmingham Six. The Guildford Four. The Mangrove Nine. The McLibel Two. The Angry Brigade. Kenneth Noye. Valerio Viccei. Bloody Sunday. The Marchioness disaster. Stephen Lawrence. Hillsborough. Grenfell. The landmark cases in which Michael Mansfield KC has been involved as a barrister add up to a legal panorama of the last half-century. Now in his 80s, he has written what amounts to a call to arms for anyone who feels despair at the state of our justice system, our politics - and our planet.

The book, The Power in the People, aims to highlight the achievements of those who have fought injustice, secrecy or bigotry. People are fed up with the fact that we seem to be in a hopeless situation in which we have feckless people in power who pay no real regard to the constituencies they represent," says Mansfield. I don't think we have a parliamentary system that reflects the public any more."