diff --git a/doc/changelog.asciidoc b/doc/changelog.asciidoc
index ba1259d42..10109518b 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.asciidoc
+++ b/doc/changelog.asciidoc
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ Fixed
   loaded correctly in some situations.
 - The statusbar now more closely reflects the caret mode state.
 - The icon on Windows should now be displayed in a higher resolution.
+- The QtWebEngine development tools (inspector) now also work when JavaScript is
+  disabled globally.
 
 v1.2.1
 ------
diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webengineinspector.py b/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webengineinspector.py
index 9200e3eb3..0145ad634 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webengineinspector.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webengineinspector.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 import os
 
 from PyQt5.QtCore import QUrl
-from PyQt5.QtWebEngineWidgets import QWebEngineView
+from PyQt5.QtWebEngineWidgets import QWebEngineView, QWebEngineSettings
 
 from qutebrowser.browser import inspector
 
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ class WebEngineInspector(inspector.AbstractWebInspector):
         super().__init__(parent)
         self.port = None
         view = QWebEngineView()
+        settings = view.settings()
+        settings.setAttribute(QWebEngineSettings.JavascriptEnabled, True)
         self._set_widget(view)
 
     def inspect(self, _page):