50 years after Enoch Powell’s self-styled detonation in the form of his so-called ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, this volume brings together contributions from international scholars in the field of history, political science and British studies, with new insights from hitherto unexplored archives. It investigates some of the key national and grassroots parameters which, from above and from below, led to Powell’s violent irruption into the immigration debate in 1968. It apprehends Powell as a political and intellectual figure firmly established in the British Tory tradition, a tradition which was to shape the 1970s debate on race and immigration, and be avidly instrumentalised by the British far-right. It also analyses Powell’s positioning vis-à-vis the Irish question, and apprehends Powell’s late-1960s moment from an international standpoint, as one of the early stages of the conservative revolution which was to culminate in 2016 with Trump’s election. Lastly, this book weaves a thread between Powell and another recent political detonation: Brexit.
Author(s): Olivier Esteves and Stéphane Porion
Series: Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2019
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of contributors
Introduction
Reigniting controversy
No Iago, no Churchill
Populism, nativism, autochthony
Notes
References
1 Powell and after: Immigration, race and politics in Britain
Introduction
Migration to Britain from the Commonwealth, 1948–1981
The politics of immigration, 1964–1979: before and after Powell
Testing the impact of Powell and immigration
Analysis 1: Cross-tabulation analysis
Estimating the electoral impact of immigration before and after Powell
Powell’s legacy? Racial attitudes and partisanship since the 1970s
Conclusion
Notes
References
2 Wrathful rememberers: Harnessing the memory of World War II
in letters of support to Powell
Memory peddling or Powell’s exploitation of the war
Displacement and disempowerment
Turning in their graves
What “finest hour”?
Welfare chauvinism
Conclusion: emotions in distateful movements
Notes
References
3 Powell and the media: an insider’s account
A family friendship put to the test by migratory dynamics
Powell learning the tricks of the journalist trade
Private aftermaths of a national furore
How Powell shaped my own career as a journalist
From Powell to Farage
Note
References
4 An international press review of the Powell moment (1968–1973)
Comparing Powell
Hard to pigeonhole
Holding a mirror to England’s racial problem
Immigrant communities: low-profile attitude, resilience, agency
Conclusion
Notes
References
5 The rise of the Runnymede Trust: Enoch Powell and the media
wars
The genesis of Runnymede
A new organization in action
The media wars
Conclusion
Note
References
6 Enoch Powell, British nationality and the Irish question,
1968–1987
Irish citizenship and British nationality law
The belonging of Ulster Unionists
Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974
Irish voting rights
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
7 Enoch Powell, Julian Amery and debates over Britain’s world role
after 1945
Empire
Europe
Conclusion
Notes
References
8 The end of an intellectual journey: How Alfred Sherman’s ideas
on immigration and the British nation were framed by Powellism
(1968–1979)
Introduction
Sherman’s relationships with Powell in perspective
Powell’s 1968 speech as a watershed in Sherman’s thinking.
New Right new racism
Sherman as the intellectual link between Powell and Thatcher (1976–1979)
The “Eurosceptic” dimension of Powellism: how and why Sherman
misunderstood it in the 1970s
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
9 “Enoch was right” – the Powell effect on the National Front in
the 1970s
The creation of the National Front and the impact of Powell’s April 1968 speech
A gulf separating a free marketer and Conservative like Powell from the National Front
The National Front’s strategy to harness Powell’s ideas and popularity
Powell was never one of them
Conclusion
Notes
References
10 The ambivalence of UKIP towards Enoch Powell’s legacy
Europe
Immigration
Populism
Conclusion
Notes
References
Conclusion
Note
References
Index
