‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, 50 years on: Setting the scene in 1968 | ITV News

[Music] I've always aspired we heard and understood by everybody I've little patience with a political appeal which is a sectional view Enoch Powell was well aware of the impact his speech would have he sent advanced copies to ITV central then a TV and to his local paper the Wolverhampton Express and star telling its editor this speech Wilf is like a rocket but whereas all Rockets fall to earth this one is going to stay up in this country in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man he was speaking at a Birmingham Hotel to an invited audience of conservative supporters but he knew his words would ring out to a far wider audience it almost passes belief that at this moment 22 certainly additional immigrant children are arriving from overseas in Wolverhampton alone every week and that means 15 or 20 additional families a decade or so hence those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad we must be mad but the cameras in 1968 didn't capture the following words Enoch Powell said as I look ahead I'm filled with foreboding like the Roman I seem to see the river Tiber foaming with much blood the next day Enoch Powell was sacked from the conservative shadow cabinet by Ted Heath there was outrage and protests on both sides of the argument and he's the only man that's prepared to risk job not a liability job to say what the ordinary people think 50 years on and the speech is recalled by fellow politicians Paul Apple is a member of the 20,000 strong Sikh population of Wolverhampton he was the MP in Enoch Powell Szold seat for five years died came to UK 1961 but he always remembers the speech in 1968 because after that speech was made there was a palpable change in terms of the atmosphere and for the first time and I'd always said they didn't actually feel welcome in the UK and they'd never felt that before the speech I think what we should look at is how Britain has matured and ultimately how Enoch piles predictions didn't come to pass in fact I'm a product of two cultures I have a Christian first name and a Sikh surname so and I went to represent Wolverhampton southwest so in many ways I think we should talk about it but we should actually commemorate the fact that what he not predicted didn't come to pass you are aware are you not a afternoon a different view on the speech from the you Kipp MEP bill Etheridge born in Wolverhampton and a seasoned political campaigner on the issue of immigration well that speech 50 years ago was given in terminology and words that we wouldn't use today but if you actually disseminate what he was trying to say and you look at the effects of uncontrolled mass immigration I think there's a point to it and I think in has in many ways the Enoch Powell was a visionary who saw many things that were going to happen like about the EU and various other things and I think we need to understand the speech in modern terms and realize that it's something that still has massive resonance for people now not the view of Dudley MP Ian Austin reading back through the words he says Enoch Powell was simply irresponsible and wrong he based all this on anonymous letters he'd supposedly received it was a dreadful speech and the truth about the West Midlands is is what's happened since which is that people have come from all over the world and made a huge contribution it's a community life to the economy in West Midlands that businesses that have been set up the jobs that have been created I think that's something that we should celebrate and I think we should use this anniversary so that Enoch Powell was completely wrong and the the predictions he made have not been proved true at all a final word from the current MP for Wolverhampton South West Elinor Smith we have to celebrate the cohesion in particularly in Wolverhampton the community and and also across the country as well because he did want it to have that divide but what we have to do is celebrate where we are now

Channel: ITV News

Views: 284,124

Keywords: Enoch Powell, Rivers of Blood, Immigration, Equality, Racism, Politics, Social Justice, Inequality, Social Injustice, Integration, Religion, ITV News, ITV News Central, Wolverhampton

Id: r3QC5_efQb0

Length: 5min 1sec (301 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 20 2018