Powell was (almost) right!

Enoch Powell was a great man. Possibly the greatest politician this country ever had not to become Prime Minister.

Like Winston Churchill before him, he was cast into the political wilderness. He was a vehoment campaigner against immigration and against the erosion of our sovereignty by the Fourth Reich. He was right - almost!

In 1968, he blew his political carreer with his infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech. Now 43 years later, the general timbre has come to pass. Only this week Britain was branded as a 'safe haven for terrorism'. Let's look at what Powell actually said :

There are among the Commonwealth immigrants who have come to live here in the last fifteen years or so, many thousands whose wish and purpose is to be integrated and whose every thought and endeavour is bent in that direction.

But to imagine that such a thing enters the heads of a great and growing majority of immigrants and their descendants is a ludicrous misconception, and a dangerous one.

Powell is right to be concerned. Here, of course, he is talking about Commonwealth immigrants - black in particular, which is where he went wrong.  No-one could have seen the threat from Islamic extremists all those years ago, but he should certainly have seen the insurge from the then Common Market countries as it took in more and more countries. Colour is not the issue; it is culture which is the problem.

He is right that the vast majority of immigrants want to be part of this country and are law abiding. They should be embaced and welcomed - space permitting. But more worryingly he seems to hint at the threat from within that gave rise to the 7/7 attacks in London. Here his foresight is almost miraculous.

He goes on :

...we are seeing the growth of positive forces acting against integration, of vested interests in the preservation and sharpening of racial and religious differences, with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population.

Well, not so much racial, Enoch, but certainly religious differences have become one of the greatest menaces we have ever had to deal with. Enoch was right about the threat but wrong about the source, but then it is easy to say this from our perspective in his future. Let's close with his most famous words...

As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood."

You can read the full text of Powell's speech by clicking here.
(Please note that I do not support violent demonstration, racism, the EDL or the BNP)