The Spectator’s Notes | 13 August 2011

If it is any consolation to David Cameron, the last really big nationwide outbreak of riots was even worse for the prime minister than this lot. This occurred in 1981, when Mrs Thatcher faced maximum danger from her Cabinet colleagues and from public opinion because of the toughness of her economic policies. The riots spread, over three months, from Brixton to Toxteth, Handsworth, Moss Side and other locations whose names are now becoming familiar again. Despite her fierce reputation, Mrs Thatcher did not quite know what to do, veering between a determination to pretend that everything was business as usual, and a desire to clamp down on the violence.  The presentational oddity is illustrated by the fact that one night in July she went, against her will, to Anyone for Denis?, the play in which John Wells parodied her husband (‘marvellous farce’, she said through gritted teeth), and then zoomed straight off to Toxteth (Liverpool) to see a riot-affected area for herself.