Contrary to left-wing legend, he did not dump the poll tax immediately upon entering Downing Street. Thatcher was replaced as Tory prime minister by John Major. As one left-liberal think-tank study concedes, ‘The poll tax was scrapped not because of the non-payment campaign and the riots in Trafalgar Square, but because of splits within the Conservative Party’.

Like other prime ministers since her, Thatcher was not brought down by mass protests, but by political divisions within the Tory Party, notably over the EU. What finally ended the poll tax was the fall of prime minister Thatcher, eight months later, at the end of November 1990. The notorious London riot took place at a mass protest just before the poll tax was due to be introduced. These outbreaks of disorder were sure signs of the frustration felt at the failure to stop the poll tax. The protests culminated in a major riot around London’s Trafalgar Square on 31 March, which left 113 injured and led to 340 arrests. On 6 March, for instance, a 5,000-strong demonstration in Bristol led to clashes with the police, and the next day a protest in Hackney turned violent, leading to the arrest of 56. Poll-tax riots even broke out during protests in British towns and cities in early 1990. Yet they were ignored by Thatcher’s government, which pressed on with its plans for the community charge regardless. The poll tax was unpopular across social classes, and the protests enjoyed widespread support.

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