THE GREAT achievement of parliamentary democracy is to take politics off the streets. In the 18th and early 19th centuries Britain was a land of people on the march. Mobs rioted against papists and gin taxes. Protesters marched in favour of repealing the Corn Laws and extending the voting franchise. The arrival of full democracy in 1928 changed the tone of politics. Big demonstrations were few and far between. Industrial conflicts alienated the public. Professional protesters, carrying their bedraggled banners from one tiny meeting to another, became figures of fun.
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