The second closest in recent-ish times was the rioting after the Lords defeated the Second (Electoral) Reform Bill in 1831. Rioting broke out in a number of UK

The second closest in recent-ish times was the rioting after the Lords defeated the Second (Electoral) Reform Bill in 1831. Rioting broke out in a number of UK cities and rioters took over in a handful. But the British are essentially oppositional, not constructive, so after they'd done a bit of shouting and running around and setting fire to things they went home. Wellington watched it all unfold. Apparently couldn't believe his eyes when a mass of people who could easily have overthrown the government and started a French-style revolution gave up after some fairly token brick throwing. The closest was probably the General Strike in 1926 - nominally over coal supplies - which was much the same story but with almost no violence. Although in fact you could easily argue that Brexit was a kind of reactionary revolution, where a group of fascist intellectuals and journalists persuaded the more gullible elements of the population that leaving one of the world's biggest trading blocs would be entirely friction free and a glorious patriotic future would ensue - and not at all the entirely predictable economic and social disaster it has turned into.