Campaign to block Powell blue plaque
Petition opposes commemoration for ‘Rivers of Blood’ politician
ACAMPAIGN opposing a blue plaque for politician Enoch Powell has been launched. Nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition to halt the plans which would commemorate the controversial Birmingham-born politician.
The plaque would be installed in Wolverhampton, the city he represented as MP at Westminster from 1950 to 1974.
Powell gained notoriety in 1968 with his “Rivers of Blood” speech on mass immigration in Britain.
Last week’s Birmingham Post revealed Wolverhampton’s Civic and Historical Society was judging an application for a plaque on a “nonpolitical” basis.
But now a petition against the proposal – which brands Powell a “racist” – has been launched on website 38 Degrees.
It says: “Enoch Powell does not deserve to be honoured with a blue plaque in Wolverhampton.
“During his career as an MP he knowingly inflamed racial discrimination and hatred. His infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech went down in history as one of the most divisive and racist speeches ever made by a British politician.
“This is a country that prides itself on its fight against racism and fascism. Over the past 60 years Britain has matured into a pluralist multicultural society.
“There really is no reason in 2018 to put up a plaque celebrating someone who is remembered for his extreme and divisive ideology.
“Blue plaques are used to celebrate the lives of the Great British people such as William Shakespeare, Emmeline Pankhurst or Sir Isaac Newton, people who made an outstanding contributions to their nation and locality.
“Enoch Powell does not deserve to be in this company and should not be celebrated with a blue plaque.”
A second similar petition on change.org has generated around 1,200 signatures.
Powell’s speech on mass immigration was delivered at the Midland Hotel (now the Burlington), off News Street, in Birmingham city centre almost 50 years ago, in April 1968.
In it, he spoke of how mass immigration into Britain in the future would see “the black man have the whip hand over the white man”.
Wolverhampton’s Civic Society will decide if gets the go-ahead, but only if the applicant has raised the £1,000 necessary to make it.
Stechford-born Powell, who had two daughters, died aged 85 in 1998.