It is deeply authoritarian from Labour and the Conservatives. During the Troubles (eg, the Irish Republican Army bombing the UK and their opposite numbers in No

It is deeply authoritarian from Labour and the Conservatives. During the Troubles (eg, the Irish Republican Army bombing the UK and their opposite numbers in Northern Ireland doing the same) we practiced internment - eg mass incarceration without charge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Demetrius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Demetrius We also routinely convicted people on flimsy charges, this being the most notorious case: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Six https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Six A notoriously brutal policing operation split along ethnic lines: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ulster_Constabulary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ulster_Constabulary Infiltration of various groups by police with the sole purpose of surveilling and disrupting their activities: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/15/undercover-police-spies-infiltrated-uk-leftwing-groups-for-decades https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/15/undercover-p... Mass surveillance by GCHQ as documented by Snowden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosure... Rendition without trial (aka kidnapping) and torture: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/22/uk-support-cia-rendition-flights https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/22/uk-support-cia... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisone... London is the most surveiled city outside China: https://www.verdict.co.uk/most-surveilled-city/ https://www.verdict.co.uk/most-surveilled-city/ And last but not least, the Metropolitan Police is full of creeps, rapists and murderers: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58747614 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-58747614 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/28/met-police-placed-special-measures-series-scandals https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/28/met-police-p... https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/22/fourth-officer-allegedly-fathered-child-after-meeting-woman-undercover https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/22/fourth-offic... ... OK, one more, I give you.. indefinite prison sentences: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/28/call-to-resentence-3000-prisoners-trapped-under-indefinite-jail-terms https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/28/call-to-rese... Edit: The pattern I'd identify throughout 200 years of our history is that we regularly "clamp down" on groups that are no threat (eg, Catholics, Irish people, and today Muslims) and radicals of any kind who wanted stuff like the vote, or socialised healthcare, or a decent environment. The pattern may well span longer, but I can definitely pick it up during that time. I don't think it is even a matter of national character, either: it is a function of how our politics works. We have two viable parties of government, and they don't contest certain things, including authoritarian policymaking.