Enoch Powell: Difference between revisions

'''John Enoch Powell''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|MBE}} (16 June 1912{{snd}}8 February 1998) was a British politician, scholar, and writer. He served as a[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Wolverhampton South West (UK Parliament constituency)|Wolverhampton South West]] for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] Memberfrom of1950 to [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974]] and as MP for [[South Down (UK Parliament constituency)|South Down]] for the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] (1950–1974UUP) andfrom [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|October 1974]] to 1987. He was [[Secretary of State for Health and Social Care|Minister of Health]] (1960–1963),from then1960 anto 1963 in the [[Ulstersecond UnionistMacmillan Partyministry]] (UUP)and MPwas [[Shadow Secretary of State for Defence]] from 1965 to 1968 in the [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (1974–1987United Kingdom)|Shadow Cabinet]] of [[Edward Heath|Ted Heath]]. Before entering politics, Powellhe was a [[classical scholar]]. During the [[Second World War]], heHe served in both staff and intelligence positions during the [[World War II|Second World War]], reaching the rank of [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|brigadier]]. HePowell also wrote poetry, and manyseveral books on classical and political subjects.

In 1968 , while serving as [[Shadow Cabinet|shadow]] Defence Secretary, Powell attracted widespread attention nationwide for his [[Rivers of Blood speech|"Rivers of Blood" speech]], in which he criticised the rates of [[Modern immigration to the United Kingdom|immigration intoto the UK]], especially rapid immigration from the [[New Commonwealth]], and opposed the [[Anti-discrimination law|anti-discrimination]] [[Race Relations Act 1968|Race Relations Bill]] (which ultimately became law). The speech drewwas sharpcriticised criticism fromby some of Powell's own party members<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|p=461}}</ref> and ''[[The Times]].'',<ref>Editorial comment, ''The Times'', 22 April 1968.</ref> withHeath, who was then the [[Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|leader of the Conservative Party leader]] and the [[EdwardLeader Heathof the Opposition (United Kingdom)|leader of the Opposition]], dismissingdismissed Powell from the shadowShadow cabinetCabinet athe day after the speech.

In the aftermath of the speech, several polls suggested that 67 to 82 per cent of the UKBritish population agreed with Powell's opinions.<ref name="Shepherd 1994, p. 352">Shepherd 1994, p. 352.</ref><ref>{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zOxwMFUnH8YC&pg=PA48 | title = The White Man's World | first = Bill | last = Schwarz| year = 2011 | page = 48 | publisher = OUP Oxford | isbn = 9780199296910 | quote = So far as these can tell us anything, the opinion polls following the speech provide an indication of the scale of popular support. Gallup recorded 74 per cent, ORC 82 per cent, NOP 67 per cent, and the ''Express'' 79 per cent in favour of what Powell had proposed in Birmingham.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Bruce |last=Garvey |work=The Ottawa Citizen |url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=ac315342-4333-4bcf-8916-fe85d7d21746 |title=Part 2: Enoch Powell and the 'Rivers of Blood' speech|publisher=Canada.com |date=4 June 2008 |access-date=20 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511101758/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=ac315342-4333-4bcf-8916-fe85d7d21746 |archive-date=11 May 2011 }}</ref> His supporters argued that thePowell's large public following<ref name="dumbrell">{{Citation | title = A Special Relationship | first = John | last = Dumbrell | year = 2001 | pages = 34–35 | publisher = Macmillan | isbn = 9780333622490 | quote = A Feb 1969 Gallup poll showed Powell the 'most admired person' in British public opinion}}</ref><ref name="alor">{{citation|url=http://www.alor.org/Volume8/Vol8No47.htm |title=OnTarget |volume=8 |number=47 |publisher=ALOR |access-date=2 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219220845/http://www.alor.org/Volume8/Vol8No47.htm |archive-date=19 February 2011 }}</ref> that Powell attracted helped the Conservatives to win the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]],{{sfn|Heffer|1998|p=568}} and perhaps cost them the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 general election]],{{sfn|Heffer|1998|pp=710–712}} when Powell turned his back on the Conservatives by endorsing a vote for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], which returned as a [[minority government]]. Powell was returned to the House of Commons in October 1974 as the Ulster Unionist Party MP for the [[Northern Ireland]] constituency of [[South Down (UK Parliament constituency)|South Down]]. He represented the constituency until he was defeated at the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]].

John Enoch Powell was born in [[Stechford]], Warwickshire, within the city of [[Birmingham]], on 16 June 1912, and was baptised at [[Newport, Shropshire|Newport]], Shropshire, in [[St Nicholas Church, Newport|St Nicholas's churchChurch]], where his parents had married in 1909.<ref>{{cite news|title=Controversial MP's family links and childhood memories of the [Shropshire] county|work=Shropshire Star|date=15 April 2021|page=16}}Report by Toby Neal.</ref> He was the only child of Albert Enoch Powell, a primary school headmaster, and his wife, Ellen Mary. Ellen was the daughter of Henry Breese, a [[Liverpool]] policeman, and his wife Eliza, who had been a teacher. His mother did not like his name, and as a child he was known as "Jack".{{sfn|Shepherd|1997|p=5}} At the age of three, Powell was nicknamed "the Professor" because he used to stand on a chair and describe the stuffed birds that his grandfather had shot, which were displayed in his parents' home.{{sfn|Shepherd|1997|p=3}} In 1918, the family moved to [[Kings Norton]], Birmingham, where Powell remained until 1930.

On one occasion, Powell's yellow skin (he was recovering from [[jaundice]]), over-formal dress and strange manner caused him to be mistaken for a Japanese spy.{{sfn|Heffer|1998|p=83}} During this period, he declined to meet a Cambridge academic colleague, [[Glyn Daniel]], for a drink or dinner as he was devoting his limited leisure time to studying the poet [[John Donne]].{{sfn|Shepherd|1997|p=52}} Powell had continued to learn Urdu and was taught by a nephew of the Urdu poet [[Altaf Hussain Hali]]. He had an unrealised ambition to compose a critical edition of Hali's [[Musaddas]], ''The Rise and Fall of Islam''.{{sfn|Heffer|1998|p=87}} He also had an ambition of eventually becoming [[Viceroy of India]], and when Mountbatten transferred his staff to [[Kandy]], [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]], Powell chose to remain in Delhi. He was promoted to full colonel at the end of March 1944, as assistant director of military intelligence in India, giving intelligence support to the [[Burma]] campaign of [[Sir William Slim]].{{sfn|Heffer|1998|p=93}}

During the early 1960s, Powell was asked about the recruitment of immigrant workers for the NHS. He replied by saying "recruitment was in the hands of the hospital authorities, but this was something that happened of its own accord given that there was no bar upon entry and employment in the United Kingdom to those from the West Indies or anywhere else [in the Commonwealth or colonies]."<ref name=immigration1>{{cite book|title=Enoch Powell: A Biography|last=Shepherd|first=Robert|chapter=Hypocrite on immigration?|pages=222–226}}</ref> Powell did welcome immigrant nurses and doctors, under the condition that they were to be temporary workers training in the UK and would then return to their native countries as qualified doctors or nurses.<ref name=immigration1 /> Shortly after becoming Minister of Health, Powell asked Rab Butler (the [[Home Secretary]]) if he could be appointed to a ministerial committee which monitored immigration and was about to be re-constituted.<ref name=immigration1 /> Powell was worried about the strain caused by NHS immigrants, and papers show that he wanted a stronger restriction on Commonwealth immigration than whatthat which was passed in 1961.<ref name=immigration1 />

A ''[[Daily Express]]'' opinion poll in 1972 showed Powell to be the most popular politician in the country.<ref name="alor"/> In mid-1972, he prepared to resign the Conservative whip and changed his mind only because of fears of a renewed wave of immigration from Uganda after the accession of [[Idi Amin]], who had expelled Uganda's Asian residents. He decided to remain in parliament and in the Conservative Party, and was expected to support the party in Wolverhampton at the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|snap general election of February 1974]] called by [[Edward Heath]]. However, on 23 February 1974, with the election only five days away, Powell dramatically turned his back on his party, giving as the reasons that it had taken the United Kingdom into the EEC without having a mandate to do so, and that it had abandoned other manifesto commitments, so that he could no longer support it at the election.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1974.html |title=1974 |work=Express & Star |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717052230/http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1974.html |archive-date=17 July 2012 }}</ref> The monetarist economist [[Milton Friedman]] sent Powell a letter praising him as principled.,{{sfn|Heffer|1998|p=703}} and notably, there was a breakaway faction of the Conservative Party in [[Gloucester (UK Parliament constituency)|Gloucester]] which selected a candidate who stood under the party name of "Powell Conservative", securing 366 votes, 0.7% of the overall vote share in the constituency.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://spprd.insec.netcopy.thompsonjames.co.uk/article/23rd-february-1974/11/1-oucester-a-l-ocal-correspondent-he-intervention-

When Thatcher was challenged by [[Michael Heseltine]] for the [[1990 Conservative Party leadership election|leadership of the Conservative Party]] during November 1990, Powell said he would rejoin the party, which he had left in February 1974 over the issue of Europe, if Thatcher won, and would urge the public to support both her and, in Powell's view, national independence. He wrote to one of Thatcher's supporters, [[Norman Tebbit]], on 16 November, telling him Thatcher was entitled to use his name and his support in any way she saw fit. Since she resigned on 22 November, Powell never rejoined the Conservatives. Powell wrote the following Sunday: "Good news is seldom so good, nor bad news so bad, as at first sight it appears. Her downfall was due to having so few like-minded people on European integration amongst her colleagues and that as she had adopted a line that would improve her party's popularity, it was foolish of them to force her out." He added, "The battle has been lost, but not the war. The fact abides that, outside the magic circle at the top, a deep rooted opposition has been disclosed in the UK to surrendering to others the right to make our laws, fix our taxes, or decide our policies. Running deep beneath the overlay of years of indifference is still the attachment of the British public to their tradition of democracy. Their resentment on learning that their own decisions can be overruled from outside remains as obstinate as ever". Thatcher had relit the flame of independence and "what has happened once can happen again&nbsp;... sooner or later those who aspire to govern&nbsp;... will have to listen".{{sfn|Heffer|1998|p=934}}

A few hours following Powell's final admission to [[King Edward VII's Hospital]] in London, he asked where his lunch was. On being told that he was being fed intravenously, he remarked, "I don't call that much of a lunch." These were his last recorded words.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16177506.hoves-tory-mp-martin-maddan-friends-spotlight/|title = Hove's Tory MP Martin Maddan and friends in the spotlight|date = 23 April 2018|accessdate = 28 June 2022|last = Pearce|first = Hayley|work = [[The Argus (Brighton)|The Argus]]}}</ref> On 8 February 1998, he died there at the age of 85.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/09/world/enoch-powell-british-rightist-dies-at-85.html|title = Enoch Powell, British Rightist, Dies at 85|page = A17|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|last = Pace|first = Eric|date = 9 February 1998|accessdate = 28 June 2022|url-access = limited}}</ref> Powell was survived by his widow and two daughters. His study of the [[Gospel of John]] remained unfinished.

Over 1,000 people attended Powell's funeral, and during the ceremony he was hailed as a man of prophecy, political sacrifice and as a great parliamentarian.<ref name=funeral1 /> During the service, [[Lord Biffen]] said that Powell's nationalism "certainly did not bear the stamp of racial superiority or xenophobia".<ref name=funeral1 /> Following Powell's death, many politicians, including his rivals, paid tribute to him. [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] said, "However controversial his views, he was one of the great figures of 20th-century British politics, gifted with a brilliant mind. However much we disagreed with many of his views, there was no doubting the strength of his convictions or their sincerity, or his tenacity in pursuing them, regardless of his own political self-interest."<ref name=tribute1 /> Former Conservative Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] said, "There will never be anybody else so compelling as Enoch Powell. He was magnetic. Listening to his speeches was an unforgettable privilege. He was one of those rare people who made a difference and whose moral compass led us in the right direction."<ref name=tribute1>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/rivals-pay-tribute-to-enoch-powell-1143780.html|title=Rivals pay tribute to Enoch Powell|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|year=1998}}</ref> Over 1,000 people attended Powell's funeral, and during the ceremony he was hailed as a man of prophecy, political sacrifice and as a great parliamentarian.<ref name=funeral1 /> During the service, [[Lord Biffen]] said that Powell's nationalism "certainly did not bear the stamp of racial superiority or xenophobia".<ref name=funeral1 /> Other mourners at the service included socialist Labour MP [[Tony Benn]], who, despite criticising the ''Rivers of Blood'' speech, maintained a close relationship with Powell, and when asked why he had attended the funeral, simply responded with "he was my friend."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/share-your-tributes-to-tony-benn|title=Share your tributes to Tony Benn|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=14 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/old-order-mourns-enoch-powell-1145584.html|title = Old Order mourns Enoch Powell|website = [[Independent.co.uk]]|date = 22 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.channel4.com/news/by/michael-crick/blogs/ten-tony-benn|title=Ten things you may not have known about Tony Benn|date=14 March 2014}}</ref>

Despite his earlier [[atheism]], Powell became a devout member of the [[Church of England]], thinking in 1949 "that he heard the bells of [[St Peter's Wolverhampton]] calling him" while walking to his flat in his (then future) constituency.{{sfn|Heffer|1998|p=130}} Subsequently,He hesubsequently became a church warden of [[St. Margaret's, Westminster]].

In November 1968, Powell also suggested that the problems that would be caused if there were a large influx of Germans or Russians into the UK "would be as serious – and in some respects more serious – than could follow from the introduction of a similar number of West Indies or Pakistanis".<ref name="Shepherd 1994, p 365">Shepherd 19941997, p. 365.</ref>