The Poll tax was so disliked that it provoked a massive law-breaking exercise, and legal action was taken against almost 1,250,000 Scots in the second year of its operation. Its introduction to England and Wales saw riots in Cheltenham and London, and mass protests up and down the country, involving many Conservative supperters on a scale unprecedented from within the Party's electoral base.;It was this tax that led to the ousting of Mrs Thatcher from her 11 year premiership, and its subsequent abolition of it under the new leader John Major. This book examines how such unpopular legislation came about, and the process of state policy formation.