The one good thing we can say about Radio Four's broadcast of Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of blood' speech at the weekend is that it certainly outed some dodgy views. Chief amongst those was the assertion by the Welsh UKIP leader that Enoch Powell was not a racist.
Neil Hamilton, who is himself a disgraced former Tory MP, though for different reasons, told the BBC that the idea Enoch Powell was a "racist villain" is "absolute nonsense":
"The idea that Enoch Powell was some kind of uniquely racist villain is absolute nonsense," Mr Hamilton told the Good Morning Wales programme.
"Powell actually changed politics by articulating the fears and resentments of millions and millions of people who are being ignored by the establishment."
Mr Hamilton said: "I think he's been proved right by events.
"I don't think he was right in one sense, in that we have not seen the kind of racial violence and intolerance generated by this that, at the time, was happening in the United States."
But Mr Hamilton said the "social changes which mass immigration has brought were never desired by the majority of the British people, and indeed they had never been asked 'do you want to transform your country in the way that has happened'."
UKIP just can't help themselves can they?
In response, the Welsh Lib Dem Leader tweeted: 'Utterly despicable comments. Powell was a racist, plain and simple. To hear someone trying to defend and justify his racist views shows how delusional and out of touch UKIP really are. Wales really deserves better.'
Absolutely right!!
Welsh Liberal Democrats Councillor for Cwmbwrla Ward, City and County of Swansea - Please buy my novels at Author Page
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Tuesday, April 17, 2018
1 comment:
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Enoch Powell, racist, certainly. But he was far from the only one. Had what Jim Callaghan said in Cabinet in 1968 been reported at the time instead of buried for 30 years, he might well have been tarred with the same brush:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.newstatesman.com/when-labour-played-racist-card
One might also remember more recently the Hong Kong chinese, who Paddy Ashdown stood up for against both Tories and Labour.