A.N. WILSON: We must not forget the basic decency of the quiet majority

The police were prepared for the worst. We were all braced for a violent and potentially terrifying night.

Shops closed early. Pubs and other businesses were boarded up. People were told to stay at home, not go to work or their local High Street.

These were not idle warnings. The intelligence services and the police were genuinely concerned that the far-Right organisations which had whipped up hatred and mayhem across the nation intended to put a match to ‘tinder- box Britain’.

In the event, something very different happened. Thousands of counter-demonstrators – in parts of London, in Brighton, Southampton, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle and elsewhere – took to the streets themselves.

True, there was a political element to it all. Those taking part were mostly of the Left. There were any number of pro-Palestinian flags and plenty of banners proclaiming allegiance to the Socialist Workers Party.

In the event, something very different happened. Thousands of counter-demonstrators – in parts of London, in Brighton, Southampton, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle and elsewhere – took to the streets themselves

But the fact is that the overwhelming majority of these people, unlike the thugs who ran riot in British cities and towns in recent days, did demonstrate peacefully. They broke no windows. Bar a few bad apples, they did not threaten anyone

At last, after the frenzy and shock of blazing police cars last week, there was a sense of calm, of coming together and common sense

This was not just a demonstration against the crude hatred of the thugs. Across the country, we saw something more fundamental, if less tangible: a demonstration of the basic decency of the British people

Some of the demonstrators wore masks or balaclavas, an odd choice, you might think, for a peaceful demonstration.

But the fact is that the overwhelming majority of these people, unlike the thugs who ran riot in British cities and towns in recent days, did demonstrate peacefully. They broke no windows. Bar a few bad apples, they did not threaten anyone. They did not set fire to places of business or places of worship.

And I for one was astonished and deeply grateful, as I am sure all of us were.

At last, after the frenzy and shock of blazing police cars last week, there was a sense of calm, of coming together and common sense. No matter that a minority of those present might have been spoiling for a fight, it seemed as if order had been restored that the people had had enough.

This was not just a demonstration against the crude hatred of the thugs. Across the country, we saw something more fundamental, if less tangible: a demonstration of the basic decency of the British people.

When the rioting began, some of my more Right-wing friends, while not in any way condoning the violence, said things with which I profoundly disagree.

They seemed to think that the looters and the bullies and the racists who were setting fire to buildings and smashing windows were expressing the frustrations of ordinary white working-class people seething with rage about what had happened to ‘their’ Britain as a result of immigration, multi-culturalism and diversity policies, as well as government incompetence.

This attitude is deeply wrong to my mind and patronises white working-class people who are no more likely to support or commit acts of violence or to be racist than their richer fellow citizens.

When the rioting began, some of my more Right-wing friends, while not in any way condoning the violence, said things with which I profoundly disagree

The protesters do not represent the political or social frustrations of anyone. The British people abhor them and want them punished

The violent demonstrators in Southport, Middlesbrough and elsewhere over recent days were quite simply criminals. They are a tiny minority. And they do not represent the political or social frustrations of anyone. The British people abhor them and want them punished.

It is a long time since I shed a tear when reading a newspaper, but I did so on the morning I read last week of a 65-year-old Liverpool man, who said he had no interest in religion or politics, but had joined a cordon of protection around a mosque to safeguard the worshippers.

What I found touching, was not just the man’s decency and bravery. I felt that his behaviour was so very British.

It reminded me of a story I heard in my 20s from an old boy who had been taken prisoner of war by the Germans. On the first morning, the PoW camp commandant asked the senior British officer among the prisoners if they could signal which British prisoners were Jews among their number.

The next morning, the British PoWs were lined up on parade. The British officer bellowed out: ‘All those who are Jews, THREE PACES FORWARD!’ Every single British prisoner stepped forward.

These were the men who had lived through the 1930s in British cities. They had seen Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts trying to bring racist thuggery and fear to the streets of Britain. And every single time there was an election, they had shown what they thought of the fascists.

E loquent, charismatic Sir Oswald Mosley lost his deposit every single time he stood as a Blackshirt candidate, even though he served in a Labour Cabinet. P.G. Wodehouse lampooned him in his Jeeves novels as Roderick Spode and his followers as the Black ‘shorts’.

The violent demonstrators in Southport, Middlesbrough and elsewhere over recent days were quite simply criminals. They are a tiny minority

A car set alight in Middlesbrough. The sheer brutality, the cruelty and nastiness of the criminals now being rightly arrested and punished is utterly alien to our way of life 

Britain is a fundamentally tolerant society. We might all deeply disagree with one another about politics, religion, the environment and a host of other subjects. But we rub along together without violence. We have no time for extremism on the Left or the Right.

Whereas so many European countries were governed in the relatively recent past by dictatorships and suffered accompanying bloodshed, in Britain we stuck to the system of a constitutional monarchy.

Our King, both as monarch and Prince of Wales, has spoken for the overwhelming majority of his people by devoting his public life to building bridges between communities and helping people of diverse faiths and origins to be good neighbours to one another.

That is the true British spirit and character — and the sheer brutality, the cruelty and nastiness of the criminals now being rightly arrested and punished is utterly alien to our way of life.