Enoch Powell’s warning over ‘disastrous’ rise of immigration

Echoes of the past can be heard in today’s politics, with controversy about immigration.

Here, in 1970, Enoch Powell called on the Conservative Party leadership to adopt firmer immigration and racial policies. Powell spoke of a recent survey which told of “averting disaster in a few years” in Birmingham.

Powell stopped short of challenging the leader of the Tories and soon to be Prime Minister, Edward Heath, over the issue but appealed to Parliamentary colleagues. Immigration had threatened a backbench revolt among the Conservatives of the day.

“We are confronted with an inner London, a Birmingham, a Wolverhampton – and mentioning these does not exclude other towns and cities – already destined to be almost one-fifth coloured,” said Powell.