Quick response to Ferdinand Mount’s well received attack in @LRB on the Johnson government for being un-Burkean ie. not sufficiently respectful of institutions and slow organic change. He has overlooked...

... the Burke who went to war with George III over political corruption and campaigned to abolish half the offices of state, especially those hoary with antiquity and irrelevance...

... the Burke who impeached the Governor General of India for abuse of office and campaigned to bring the East India Company under political control...

... the Burke who argued for total war against revolutionary France, while the establishment sued for peace...

... the Burke who backed American Independence while the business and political elites of Britain fought to keep the colonies in the Empire...

... the Burke who defended Catholics, Jews & Hindus against the Anglican ascendancy, and stood up for debtors & homosexuals & poor poets and just about everyone who got a bad deal in 18th century England...

... fact is, Burke could be as radical as any revolutionary when he felt liberty and property and justice were under threat; but the cause was peace and quiet: he was fierce in defence of the gentle. So is this government, I do believe. /Ends