A new book Enoch at 100 marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Enoch Powell.

Enoch Powell led the kind of life that makes modern politicians look so puny and inconsequential. Powell graduated from Cambridge with a double starred first in Latin and Greek, and became a professor of Greek at the age of 25. He joined the army in 1939 as a private and left the army in 1945 as a Brigadier. Only two men did that. At the age of 70, he learnt Hebrew, the twelfth language he mastered. He spoke fluent Urdu, and once aspired to be viceroy of India.

As a politician he opposed the death penalty, supported ‘homosexual law reform’ as it was then called, and condemned the massacre of 11 Kenyans, clubbed to death by the British authorities at Hola Camp in 1959. Powell’s speech in the Commons was described by Denis Healey as ‘the greatest parliamentary speech I ever heard’, worthy of Demosthenes. As a health minister, Powell oversaw a hospital building programme only surpassed since by that of New Labour, and a huge influx of workers into the NHS from the Commonwealth.

The stench of racism – fascism, even – that hangs over Enoch Powell emanates from a period in the late 1960s when he started to make speeches about immigration into Britain. The most famous of these, delivered on 20 April 1968 in the Midland Hotel, Birmingham, contained the notorious line, derived from Virgil, ‘As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood’. Using the orator’s device of quoting others, including various ‘constituents’ who later couldn’t be identified, the Professor of Greek deployed the language of the saloon bar racist.

You can debate whether the multi-lingual, cultured, well-travelled and hyper-intelligent Powell was himself a racist, in the sense of believing his race to be superior to others. He shared with Churchill a belief in the supremacy of the English state, and with Tony Benn a faith in parliament. Denis Healey called him ‘an extreme nationalist, but not a racialist’. His friend Tony Benn said he inspired racialists ‘but was not a racialist himself’. Paul Foot, in contrast, wrote ‘the most important thing by far about Enoch Powell was that he was a racist pig of the most despicable variety.’

What is beyond doubt, and therefore unforgivable, is that the Rivers of Blood speech gave license to racists everywhere. It allowed racist sentiments to be expressed. It was a standard planted in the ground, for every racist, Nazi and bigot to come rally. A future Labour MP Paul Boateng, aged 17 in 1968, was racially abused the next day, and he was not alone.

Dockworkers at St Katherine’s Dock, members of the TGWU, went on strike and marched on parliament, with placards reading ‘Don’t knock Enoch’ and ’65,000 Dockers Back Powell.’ Within a few years, membership of the National Front had grown, and its vote in council and by-elections increased. The NF’s best share of the vote was in 1979. In 1970 the Jamaican singer Millie (best known for My Boy Lollipop) released a 45 on Trojan records called ‘Enoch Power’, a protest song against Powell, subsequently banned by the BBC. In 1976, a drunk Eric Clapton expressed his support for Enoch Powell at a concert. The reaction created the energy to form Rock Against Racism, with the Clash, Buzzcocks and Sham 69. Today, if you’re very unfortunate, you might still get a London cabbie who will tell you ‘Enoch was right.’

The shadow of Enoch Powell has hung over the debate about immigration ever since. Powell’s predictions of race riots on the American scale have been proved wrong. The contribution of the post-war immigrants from Asia, Africa and the West Indies has been positive, both economically and culturally. Powell was wrong to see the river foaming with much blood.

Yet ever since Rivers of Blood, immigration remains a toxic issue for politicians, fearful of stirring up trouble. Ed Miliband is addressing it head-on today in his media interviews. He’s right. The expansion of the EU will mean millions of extra potential arrivals. The number of people coming from Eastern Europe vastly outstripped the predictions, and put pressure on services in a small number of areas. Miliband will call for tighter controls and stricter enforcement against those who exploit immigrant workers. As the son of immigrants, he’s the best-placed leading politician to lead a public conversation free from the kind of racism with which Enoch Powell will forever be associated.

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Paul Richards writes a weekly column for Progress, Paul’s week in politics. He tweets @LabourPaul

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Photo: Walt Jabsco