Understanding Enoch Powell's Opposition To Mass Immigration
Understanding Enoch Powell's Opposition To Mass Immigration
Understanding Enoch Powell's Opposition To Mass Immigration
Summative
2015
refers
to
the
opposition
of
liberal
consensus of government that came to dominate politics in postwar Britain (Schofield, 2013). Maurice Cowling, a prominent
conservative historian around this time, better describes this
consensus by reference to the term public doctrine. Cowling
defines this term as, that loose combination of interlocking
assumptions
about
politics,
economics,
science,
scholarship,
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national
frontiers,
national
identification,
and
national
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2013,
p.
235).
As
Burke
himself
put
it,
our
representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment;
and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your
opinion (Burke, 1774). The emphasis on hearing out peoples
opinions and forming judgements on them is of vital importance
here, and it is something that Powell did often (Howard of Rising,
2012, p. 163). This is certainly the case on the issue of immigration.
For Powell, the sheer importance of the immigration issue to his
constituents meant the he was obliged to raise it, I simply do not
have the right to shrug my shoulders and think about something
else (ibid., p. 173).
As we have seen, because Powell did not believe that
governments could force people to be moral or change their moral
views, and because of his is strongly held republicanism, all the
good politician had left to do was material in nature. Politics for
Powell then, was about putting the peoples needs and opinions
ahead of his own and fulfilling them as best he could. The priority
to represent discriminatory views thus led to many accusations of
Powell as being a racist. (One of the most deprecatory of which
came from Paul Foot, who labeled Powell as a racist pig of the
most despicable variety (Foot, 1998).) It is clear that, at least from
what he said, Powell was not a racist, and that he believed that no
human race was superior to any other. This was seen clearly in his
Hola Camp, Kenya 1959 speech, which powerfully condemned
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views,
Powell,
knowingly
endowed
the
social
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Thus, the fact that Powell saw the liberal elite try and keep
everyone quiet on the issue of immigration, while Powell was trying
to raise it, is probably one of the most important parts of his antiliberalism. For Powell, this great betrayal of the nation really was
occurring in Westminster; and it created a gulf in the nation
between the majorities of English citizens on the one hand, and the
liberal, governing elite on the other. Powell stood with the former:
I mean the gulf between the overwhelming majority of people
throughout the country on the one side, and on the other side a
tiny minority, with almost a monopoly hold upon the channels of
communication, who seem determined not to know the facts and
not to face the realities and who will resort to any device or
extremity to blind both themselves and others. (Powell, 1969, p.
227)
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References
Burke, E. (1774) Speech to the Electors of Bristol [online]. .
Available
from:
http://press-
pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch13s7.html
Cowling, M. (ed.) (1978) Conservative Essays, 1st Edition. London:
Cassell.
Cowling, M. (1980) Religion and public doctrine in modern
England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Foot, P. (1998) Beyond the Powell [online]. . Available from:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/footpaul/1998/03/powell.htm
Howard of Rising, G. P. C. H. (ed.) (2012) Enoch at 100: a reevaluation of the life, politics and philosophy of Enoch Powell.
London: Biteback.
Powell, E. and Wood, J. (1972a) Still to Decide. London: Batsford.
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