Tory Hate Speech 1968-2023. Powell was sacked, Braverman sits on Tory Front Bench
55 years ago on 20th April 1968, coincidentally, or not, the anniversary of Hitler’s birth, Enoch Powell gave his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech to a Birmingham Conservative Association.
No complete recording of the speech exists, but on the 50th anniversary the BBC broadcast a recreation which was read by an actor in segments with critical comment in each section.
Powell was sacked as a Shadow Minister for the speech and never recovered his standing in the Conservative Party.
The speech is an important part of British history and should certainly be recalled 55 years on. A question is how it is appropriate to do so. There is no reason why it should not be available in appropriate archives and libraries, together with any other related documentation, for researchers and other interested parties to review. However at the same time, amplifying Powell’s sentiments is highly questionable. Fortunately there appears to be little attempt to do that
With Suella Braverman as Home Secretary and Nigel Farage an ever present media figure there is no need to do so.
Braverman has become an expert on hate speech, about rough sleepers, asylum seekers and protesters against war. In the Commons on Tuesday Keir Starmer underlined the point. Braverman, unlike Powell has not been sacked but was sitting next to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Powell’s speech is a reminder that far right racist views and the Tory Party are not a recent phenomenon but 55 years on something a Culture War Tories can apparently tolerate.
Many of us, from the 70s onwards have marched against the NF and BNP whose policies are now mainstream Braverman ones.