Enoch Powell: a great patriot

by Kevan Stafford

Enoch Powell became famous (some say notorious) fifty years ago when, as a Conservative opposition MP, he gave a speech criticising large scale immigration from the Commonwealth on 20 April 1968, to a Conservative Association meeting in Birmingham. It became known as the “Rivers of Blood” speech, due to a line from Virgil’s Aeneid which he quoted: “As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood”. He believed that Britain would suffer bloodshed in the future if mass immigration from the third world continued.

What is certain is that Powell himself considered he was a patriot and was acting in the best interests of the country for what he saw as great danger ahead.  He believed that the indigenous population had never been consulted about mass immigration and that they would find themselves strangers in their own country, epitomised by the foreign-born population of Leicester now standing at 55%.

There were powerful establishment voices of dissent against the speech: The Times newspaper described it as “an evil speech” which “appealed to racial hatred”. however, most patriotic nationalists would consider themselves to be conservationists, who simply wish to preserve a society with a cohesive culture and ethnicity in which to raise their families. It’s not a question of xenophobia (hatred of foreigners); I do not “hate” my next door neighbour, but would not approve of him entering through my unlocked back door without my permission and taking over rooms in my home. The saying: “good fences make good neighbours” has much merit; there would be more peace in the world if barriers and borders were acknowledged.

Join the British Democrats and let’s aim for peace and prosperity.