There could be no better accompaniment to a long holiday drive – particularly through France – than the brilliant recent Rest Is History series on the beginning of the French revolution. It not only tells the tale of the extraordinary transformation of France in a few short years, but also reminds us how – for the British conservative in particular – the events remain strong in our imagination. From Edmund Burke to Margaret Thatcher, conservatives view the French revolution as an example of the disorder, chaos and violence that occurs when institutions are swept away. It is a salutary lesson in what happens when the mob takes charge.
For those of us who are children of the 1980s – when riots were more common than today – resistance to mob violence was fundamental to conservatism. Whether it be inner city disturbances or Arthur Scargill’s flying pickets seeking to intimidate working miners, these were not treated – at least not initially – as legitimate grievances that had to be addressed but acts of criminality that had to be punished. Power belonged in parliament, not on the street.
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