Enoch Powell and the Far Right

• Racial minorities were often shown in patronising or confrontational ways and there were fewer sports or media personalities showing racial minorities in a positive or empowering fashion in the 1970's
• In the 1959 general election, the founder of the 'British Union of Fascists', Oswald Mosley campaigned against immigration but only gained only 8% of the constituency vote
• In the 1964 general election, the Conservative Candidate for Smethwick in Birmingham, Peter Griffiths used the slogan "If you want a n***** for a neighbour, vote Labour" as part of a successful campaign
• The National Front Party was a fascist party founded in 1967 and it firmly opposed immigration and opposed improving race relations and multiculturalism
• The National Front Party had 20000 members by the mid-1970's, but their support collapsed by the end of the decade
• The National Front Party failed to gain a single a parliamentary seat, however, they caused widespread media reaction by gaining 16% of the vote in the 1973 West Bromwich by-election
• In 1968, Conservative MP Enoch Powell made his infamous "Rivers of Blood" Speech which warned a violent future for British Multicultural society if the numbers of immigrants continued unchecked
• Conservative leader Edward Heath sacked Enoch Powell from the Shadow Cabinet the day after he made the infamous "Rivers of Blood" Speech in 1968 (and never held a senior government position again)
• A petition to stop Enoch Powell being sacked gathered over 30000 signatures
• Opinion Polls were conducted after Enoch Powell's controversial speech in 1968, and it suggested that 75% of the British Public agreed with his speech
• Enoch Powell made his infamous speech called the "Rivers of Blood" on the 20th April 1968
• In Enoch Powell's controversial "Rivers of Blood Speech", he suggested that he was "filled with foreboding: like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood", warning us of a violent future for British Multicultural society if the number of immigrants continued unchecked