Rivers of Blood speech: Difference between revisions

[[File:Enoch Powell 4 Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Enoch Powell]] (1912–1998)]]

The "'''Rivers of Blood'''" '''speech''' was made by the British [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP)politician [[Enoch Powell]] on 20 April 1968, to a meeting of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] Political Centre in [[Birmingham]]. In it Powell, England.who Hiswas speechthen strongly[[Shadow criticisedSecretary massof immigrationState for Defence]] in the [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)|Shadow Cabinet]] of [[Edward Heath|Ted Heath]], especiallystrongly criticised the [[Modern immigration to the United Kingdom|Commonwealthrates of immigration]] tofrom the [[UnitedNew KingdomCommonwealth]] and(mostly former colonies of the proposed[[British Empire]]) to the United Kingdom since the [[World War II|Second World War]]. He also opposed the Race Relations ActBill, 1968an [[Anti-discrimination law|anti-discrimination bill]] which upon receiving [[royal assent]] as the [[Race Relations Act 1968]]. Itcriminalised becamethe knownrefusal asof housing, employment, or public services to persons on the "Riversgrounds of Blood"colour, speechrace, althoughor Powellethnic alwaysor referrednational toorigin. itPowell ashimself called it "the Birmingham speech".; The"Rivers formerof nameBlood" alludes to a prophecy from [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' which Powell (a [[Classics|classical]] scholar) quoted:

The speech causedwas a politicalnational stormcontroversy, makingand it made Powell one of the most talked -about and divisive politicians in Britain. Heath, the country;[[Leader itof ledthe toConservative hisParty controversial(UK)|leader dismissalof fromthe Conservative Party]] at the [[Firsttime, Shadowdismissed Cabinethim offrom Edwardthe Heath|Shadow Cabinet]] bythe Conservativeday Partyafter Leaderthe [[Edward Heath]]speech.<ref name="mac">{{Harvnb|McLean|2001|pp=129–30129–130}}</ref> According to most accounts, the popularity of Powell's perspectiveviews on immigration maymight have been a decisive factor in the Conservatives'[[Conservative surpriseParty (UK)|Conservative Party]]’s unexpected victory inat the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]], although he became one of the most persistent opponents of the subsequent [[Heath ministry|Heath government]].<ref name=mac/><ref name=h10>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|p=568}}</ref>

Powell, the Conservative MP for [[Wolverhampton South West (UK Parliament constituency) |Wolverhampton South West]] and [[Shadow Secretary of State for Defence]], was addressing the general meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre. The [[Labour government, 1964–1970|Labour government]]'s [[Race Relations Act 1968|1968 Race Relations Bill]] was to have its [[second reading]] three days later, and the Conservative [[OfficialHis OppositionMajesty's (UnitedMost Kingdom)Loyal Opposition|Opposition]] had tabled an [[Amend (motion)|amendment]] significantly weakening its provisions.<ref name= "hansard763-53">{{cite hansard | title= Race Relations Bill | url= https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1968/apr/23/race-relations-bill | house=HC | date=23 April 1968 | column_start= 53 | column_end= 198 |volume= 763}}</ref> The bill was a successor to the [[Race Relations Act 1965]].

{{Quote|Here is a decent, ordinary fellow Englishman, who in broad daylight in my own town says to me, his Member of Parliament, that the country will not be worth living in for his children. I simply do not have the right to shrug my shoulders and think about something else. What he is saying, thousands and hundreds of thousands are saying and thinking – notthinking—not throughout Great Britain, perhaps, but in the areas that are already undergoing the total transformation to which there is no parallel in a thousand years of English history. Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. So insane are we that we actually permit unmarried persons to immigrate for the purpose of founding a family with spouses and fiancées whom they have never seen.<ref name=p2/><ref>{{Harvnb|Powell|1969|p=283}}</ref>}}

Powell argued that he felt that although "many thousands" of immigrants wanted to integrate, he felt that the majority did not, and that some had vested interests in fostering racial and religious differences "with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population".<ref>{{Harvnb|Powell|1969|pp=287–88287–288}}</ref> Powell's [[peroration]] of the speech gave rise to its popular title. He quotes the [[Cumaean Sibyl|Sibyl]]'s prophecy in the epic poem ''[[Aeneid]]'', 6, 86–87, of "wars, terrible wars, / and the Tiber foaming with much blood".

{{Quote|As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood". That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.<ref>{{Harvnb|Powell|1969|pp=289–90289–290}}</ref>}}

The Labour MP [[Ted Leadbitter]] said he would refer the speech to the [[Director of Public Prosecutions]], and the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] leader [[Jeremy Thorpe]] spoke of a ''[[prima facie]]'' case against Powell for incitement. [[Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell|Lady Gaitskell]] called the speech "cowardly", and the West Indian cricketer Sir [[Learie Constantine|Sir Learie Constantine]] condemned it.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|p=457}}</ref>

{{Quote|[[Edward Heath|Ted Heath]] made a martyr out of Enoch, but as far as ''Express & Star's'' circulation area was concerned, virtually the whole area was determined to make a saint out of him. From the Tuesday through to the end of the week, I had ten, fifteen to twenty bags full of readers' letters: 95 per cent of them were pro-Enoch.<ref name=mfep/>}}

On 23 April 1968, the [[Race Relations Act 1968|Race Relations Bill]] had its second reading in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]].<ref name="hansard763-53"/> Many MPs referred or alluded to Powell's speech. For Labour, [[Paul Rose (British politician)|Paul Rose]], [[Maurice Orbach]], [[Reginald Paget, Baron Paget of Northampton|Reginald Paget]], [[Dingle Foot]], [[Ivor Richard]] and [[David Ennals, Baron Ennals|David Ennals]] were all critical.<ref name="hansard763-53"/> Among the Conservatives, Quintin Hogg and [[Nigel Fisher]] were critical, while [[Hugh Fraser (British politician)|Hugh Fraser]], [[Ronald Bell (politician)|Ronald Bell]], [[Dudley Smith]] and [[Harold Gurden]] were sympathetic. Powell himself was present for the debate but did not speak.<ref name="hansard763-53"/>

Earlier that day, 1,000 London [[Dockworker|dockers]] had gone [[strike action|on strike]] in protest of Powell's sacking and marched from the [[East End of London|East End]] to the [[Palace of Westminster]] carrying placards with sayings such as "we want [[Enoch Powell]]!", "Enoch here, Enoch there, we want Enoch everywhere", "Don't knock Enoch" and "Back Britain, not Black Britain". Three hundred of them went into the palace, 100 to lobby the MP for [[Stepney (UK Parliament constituency)|Stepney]], [[Peter Shore]], and 200 to lobby the MP for [[Poplar (UK Parliament constituency)|Poplar]], [[Ian Mikardo]]. Shore and Mikardo were shouted down and some dockers kicked Mikardo. Lady Gaitskell shouted: "You will have your remedy at the next election." The dockers replied: "We won't forget."<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|p=462}}</ref> The organiser of the strike, Harry Pearman, headed a delegation to meet Powell and said after: "I have just met Enoch Powell and it made me feel proud to be an Englishman. He told me that he felt that if this matter was swept under the rug he would lift the rug and do the same again. We are representatives of the working man. We are not racialists."<ref>{{Harvnb|Roth|1970|p=361}}</ref>

On 24 April 600 dockers at [[St Katharine Docks]] voted to strike and numerous smaller factories across the country followed. Six hundred [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]] meat porters struck and marched to Westminster and handed Powell a 92-page petition supporting him. Powell advised against strike action and asked them to write to [[Harold Wilson]], Heath or their MP. However, strikes continued, reaching [[Port of Tilbury|Tilbury]] by 25 April and he allegedly received his 30,000th letter supporting him, with 30 protesting against his speech. By 27 April, 4,500 dockers were on strike. On 28 April, 1,500 people marched to [[Downing Street]] chanting "Arrest [[Enoch Powell]]".<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|pp=462–65462–465}}</ref> Powell claimed to have received 43,000 letters and 700 telegrams supporting him by early May, with 800 letters and four telegrams against.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|p=466}}</ref> On 2 May, the [[attorney general]], [[Elwyn Jones, Baron Elwyn-Jones|Sir Elwyn Jones]], announced he would not prosecute Powell after consulting the Director of Public Prosecutions.

[[Gallup, Inc.|The Gallup Organization]] took an [[Gallup poll|opinion poll]] at the end of April and found that 74 per cent agreed with what Powell had said in his speech;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Adam |date=November 2015 |title=In 1968, a British politician warned immigration would lead to violence. Now some say he was right. |language=en |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/24/in-1968-a-british-politician-warned-immigration-would-lead-to-violence-now-some-say-he-was-right/ |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Perspective {{!}} Most Americans don't know who Enoch Powell was. But they should. |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/04/20/most-americans-dont-know-who-enoch-powell-was-but-they-should/ |access-date=2022-06-09 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> 15 per cent disagreed. 69 per cent felt Heath was wrong to sack Powell and 20 per cent believed Heath was right. Before his speech Powell was favoured to replace Heath as Conservative leader by one per cent, with [[Reginald Maudling]] favoured by 20 per cent; after his speech 24 per cent favoured Powell and 18 per cent Maudling. 83 per cent now felt immigration should be restricted (75 per cent before the speech) and 65 per cent favoured anti-discrimination legislation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|p=467}}</ref> According to George L. Bernstein, the speech made the British people think that Powell "was the first British politician who was actually listening to them".<ref>{{cite book|author=George L Bernstein|title=The Myth Of Decline: The Rise of Britain Since 1945|year=2004|publisher=Pimlico|isbn=1844131025|page=274}}</ref>

Powell defended his speech on 4 May through an interview for the ''[[Birmingham Post]]'': "What I would take 'racialist' to mean is a person who believes in the inherent inferiority of one race of mankind to another, and who acts and speaks in that belief. So the answer to the question of whether I am a racialist is 'no'—unless, perhaps, it is to be a racialist in reverse. I regard many of the peoples in India as being superior in many respects—intellectually, for example, and in other respects—to Europeans. Perhaps that is over-correcting."<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|pp=466–67466–467}}</ref> On 5 May the Prime Minister, [[Harold Wilson]], made his first public statement on race and immigration since Powell's speech. He told Labour supporters at a [[May Day]] rally in [[Birmingham Town Hall]]:

During the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]] the majority of the [[Parliamentary Labour Party]] did not wish to "stir up the Powell issue".<ref name="ButlerPinto-Duschinsky1971">{{cite book|author1=David Butler|author2=Michael Pinto-Duschinsky|title=British General Election of 1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9JKuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA160|date=2 July 1971|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-1-349-01095-0|pages=159–160}}</ref> However, Labour MP [[Tony Benn]] said:

{{Quote|The flag of [[racialism]] which has been hoisted in Wolverhampton is beginning to look like the one that fluttered 25 years ago over [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]] and [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp|Belsen]]. If we do not speak up now against the filthy and obscene racialist propaganda&nbsp;... the forces of hatred will mark up their first success and mobilise their first offensive.&nbsp;...

[[Enoch Powell]] has emerged as the real leader of the Conservative Party. He is a far stronger character than Mr. Heath. He speaks his mind; Heath does not. The final proof of Powell's power is that Heath dare not attack him publicly, even when he says things that disgust decent Conservatives.<ref name="ButlerPinto-Duschinsky1971" />}}

According to most accounts, the popularity of Powell's perspective on immigration may have played a decisive contributory factor in the Conservatives' surprise victory in the 1970 general election, although Powell became one of the most persistent opponents of the subsequent Heath government.<ref name=mac/><ref name="h10"/> In "exhaustive research" on the election, the American pollster [[Douglas Schoen]] and [[University of Oxford]] academic [[R. W. Johnson]] believed it "beyond dispute" that Powell had attracted 2.5 million votes to the Conservatives, but nationally the Conservative vote had increased by only 1.7 million since 1966.<ref name="h10"/> In his own constituency at that election – hiselection—his last in Wolverhampton – hisWolverhampton—his majority of 26,220 and a 64.3 per cent share of the vote were then the highest of his career.

{{Quote|My prospect is that, politicians of all parties will say "Well [[Enoch Powell]] is right, we don't say that in public but we know it in private, Enoch Powell is right and it will no doubt develop as he says. But it's better for us to do nothing now, and let it happen perhaps after our time, than to seize the many poisonous nettles which we would have to seize if we were at this stage going to attempt to avert the outcome." So let it go on until a third of Central London, a third of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, are coloured, until the Civil War comes, let it go on. We won't be blamed, we'll either have gone or we'll slip out from under somehow.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/3xGLmFNZ1tM Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20131125213253/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGLmFNZ1tM Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGLmFNZ1tM|title=Enoch Interview 1977|publisher=Youtube|year=1977}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}}

The Rivers of Blood speech has been blamed for leading to violent attacks against [[British Pakistanis]] and other [[British Asians|British South Asians]], which became frequent after the speech in 1968;<ref name="Ashe">{{cite journal |last1=Ashe |first1=Stephen |last2=Virdee |first2=Satnam |last3=Brown |first3=Laurence |title=Striking back against racist violence in the East End of London, 1968–1970 |journal=[[Race & Class]] |date=2016 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=34–54 |doi=10.1177/0306396816642997 |pmid=28479657 |pmc=5327924 |issn=0306-3968}}</ref> however, there is "little agreement on the extent to which Powell was responsible for racial attacks".{{sfn|Hillman|2008|p=89}} These "Paki-bashing" attacks later peaked during the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name="Ashe" />

Powell was mentioned in early versions of the 1969 song "[[Get Back]]" by [[The Beatles]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of The Beatles Let It Be Disaster |first1=Doug |last1=Sulpy |first2=Ray |last2=Schweighardt |page=153 |chapter=Thursday, 9 January 1969}}</ref><ref>Alex Sayf Cummings. [http://www.salon.com/2013/04/14/no_pakistanis_the_racial_satire_the_beatles_dont_want_you_to_hear/ {{"'}}No Pakistanis': The racial satire the Beatles don't want you to hear"]. ''Salon''.</ref> This early version of the song, known as the "No Pakistanis" version, parodied the [[Opposition to immigration|anti-immigrant]] views of [[Enoch Powell]].<ref>{{cite book| last1=Sulpy| first1=Doug| year=2003| last2=Schweighardt| first2=Ray| title=Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of the Beatles' Let It Be Disaster| publisher=Helter Skelter Publishing| isbn=978-1-900924-83-2| page=153}}</ref>

On 5 August 1976, [[Eric Clapton]] provoked an uproar and lingering controversy when he spoke out against [[Modern immigration to the United Kingdom|increasing immigration]] during a concert in [[Birmingham]]. Visibly intoxicated, Clapton voiced his support of the controversial speech, and announced on stage that Britain was in danger of becoming a "black colony". Among other things, Clapton said "Keep Britain white!"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/oct/14/popandrock2|title=The ten right-wing rockers|last=Bainbridge|first=Luke|date=14 October 2007|work=The Guardian|access-date=20 April 2018|location=London}}</ref> which was at the time a [[National Front (UK)|National Front]] slogan.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hall |first=John |date=19 August 2009 |title=The ten worst rock'n'roll career moves |work=[[The Independent]] |location= |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-ten-worst-rocknroll-career-moves-1774270.html?action=Popup&ino=3 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>''Rebel Rock: The Politics of Popular Music'' by J. Street. First1st Editioned., (1986). Oxford Press/Basil Blackwell. pp. 74–75.</ref>

In November 2010, the actor and comedian [[Sanjeev Bhaskar]] recalled the fear which the speech instilled in Britons of Indian origin: "At the end of the 1960s, [[Enoch Powell]] was quite a frightening figure to us. He was the one person who represented an enforced ticket out, so we always had suitcases that were ready and packed. My parents held the notion that we may have to leave."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11757017 | publisher=BBC News | title=Sanjeev Bhaskar's family feared Enoch Powell | date=15 November 2010}}</ref>

After Powell delivered the speech, there were attempts to locate the [[Wolverhampton]] constituent whom Powell described as being victimised by non-white residents. The editor of the local Wolverhampton newspaper the ''[[Express & Star]]'', Clem Jones (a close friend of Powell who broke off relations with him over the controversy), claimed he was unable to identify the woman using the [[electoral roll]] and other sources.<ref>{{Harvnb|Goodhart|2013|p=143}}</ref>

Shortly after Powell's death, Kenneth Nock, a Wolverhampton solicitor, wrote to the ''Express and Star'' in April 1998 to claim that his firm had acted for the woman in question, but that he could not name her owing to rules concerning [[client confidentiality]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Heffer|1998|p=460}}</ref> In January 2007, the [[BBC Radio 4|BBC Radio Four]] programme ''Document'' claimed to have uncovered the woman's identity. They said she was Druscilla Cotterill (1907–1978), the widow of Harry Cotterill, a [[Company quartermaster sergeant|battery quartermaster sergeant]] with the [[Royal Artillery]] who had been killed in the Second World War. (She was also the second cousin of [[Mark Cotterill]], a figure in British far-right politics.<ref>''Heritage and Destiny'', Issueissue 33, July–September 2008, pp. 13–14.</ref>) She lived in Brighton Place in Wolverhampton, which by the 1960s was dominated by immigrant families. In order to increase her income, she rented rooms to lodgers, but did not wish to rent rooms to [[West Indian|West Indians]] and stopped taking in any lodgers when the [[Race Relations Act 1968]] banned racial discrimination in housing. She locked up the spare rooms and lived only in two rooms of the house.{{cn|date=May 2020}}

Powell gained the support of the [[Far-right politics in the United Kingdom|far-right in Britain]]. Badges, T-shirts and fridge magnets emblazoned with the slogan "Enoch was right" are regularly seen at far-right demonstrations, according to [[VICE News]].<ref name="PowellVice" /> Powell also has a presence on social media, with an Enoch Powell page on [[Facebook]] run by the far-right [[Traditional Britain Group]] which amassed several thousands of likes, and similar pages which post "racist memes and ''[[Daily Mail]]'' stories"<ref name="PowellVice">{{cite news|last1=Poulter|first1=James|title=We Tried to Ask Far-Right Groups About the Enoch Powell Paedophilia Allegations|location=United Kingdom|url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/enoch-powell-child-sex-abuse-allegations-the-far-right-833|access-date=23 April 2016|work=VICE News|date=2 April 2015|language=en-uk}}</ref> have been equally successful,<ref name="PowellVice"/> such as [[British nationalism|British nationalist]] and anti-immigration [[Britain First]]'s Facebook page.<ref>{{cite news|last1=McIntyre|first1=Niam|title=Britain First: Feminism and Fascism|url=http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/britain_first_feminism_and_fascism|access-date=23 April 2016|work=New Left Project|date=3 October 2014}}</ref>

In ''The Trial of Enoch Powell'', a [[Channel 4]] television broadcast in April 1998, on the thirtieth anniversary of his Rivers of Blood speech (and two months after his death), 64% of the studio audience voted that Powell was not a racist. Some in the [[Church of England]], of which Powell had been a member, took a different view. Upon Powell's death, Barbados-born [[Wilfred Wood (bishop)|Wilfred Wood]], then [[Bishop of Croydon]], stated, "[[Enoch Powell]] gave a certificate of respectability to white racist views which otherwise decent people were ashamed to acknowledge".<ref>"Bishops criticise Abbey over Powell honour", ''The Irish Times'', 16 February 1998, p. 14</ref>

In October 2018, support for the speech was expressed by the [[University of Plymouth|Plymouth University]] Conservatives who referenced the phrase "Enoch was Right" on one of the apparel worn for a society gathering.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-45735591|title=Tory uni group suspended over T-shirts|date=3 October 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=15 October 2018|language=en-GB}}</ref>

In an interview for ''[[Today (UK newspaper)|Today]]'' shortly after her departure from office as Prime Minister in 1990, [[Margaret Thatcher]], said that Powell had "made a valid argument, if in sometimes regrettable terms".<ref name=sandford>[[Christopher Sandford (biographer)|Christopher Sandford]]: "To See and to Speak" in ''[[Chronicles (magazine)|Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture]],'' June 2012</ref>

In November 2007, [[Nigel Hastilow]] resigned as Conservative candidate for [[Halesowen and Rowley Regis (UK Parliament constituency)|Halesowen and Rowley Regis]] after he wrote an article in the Wolverhampton ''Express & Star'' that included the statement: "Enoch, once MP for Wolverhampton South-West, was sacked from the Conservative front bench and marginalised politically for his 1968 'Rivers of Blood' speech, warning that uncontrolled immigration would change Britain irrevocably. He was right and immigration has changed the face of Britain dramatically."<ref>

In January 2014, [[UK Independence Party]] leader [[Nigel Farage]], after being told during an interview that a statement just read to him had come from Powell's speech, said: "Well what he was warning about was the large influx of people into an area, that change an area beyond recognition, there is tension – the basic principle is right."<ref name="Telegraph Farage Rivers of Blood">{{cite web|last=Graham|first=Georgia|title=Nigel Farage: 'the basic principle' of Enoch Powell's River of Blood speech is right|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10552055/Nigel-Farage-the-basic-principle-of-Enoch-Powells-River-of-Blood-speech-is-right.html|publisher=Daily Telegraph|access-date=7 January 2014}}</ref> In June of that year, in response to the alleged [[Islamism|Islamist]] [[Trojan Horse scandal|Operation Trojan Horse]], Conservative peer and former minister [[Norman Tebbit]] wrote in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', "No one should have been surprised at what was going on in schools in Birmingham. It is precisely what I was talking about over 20 years ago and [[Enoch Powell]] was warning against long before that. We have imported far too many immigrants who have come here not to live in our society, but to replicate here the society of their homelands."<ref>{{cite news|author1=Tebbit, Norman|author-link1=Norman Tebbit|title=Trojan Horse: I warned about this years ago|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/normantebbit/100275737/trojan-horse-i-warned-about-this-years-ago/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140614001133/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/normantebbit/100275737/trojan-horse-i-warned-about-this-years-ago/|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 June 2014|access-date=19 January 2015|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=10 June 2014}}</ref> Conservative MP [[Gerald Howarth]] said on the same issue, "Clearly, the arrival of so many people of non-Christian faith has presented a challenge, as so many of us, including the late [[Enoch Powell]], warned decades ago."<ref>{{cite news|last1=McSmith|first1=Andy|title=Tory MP Gerald Howarth says Enoch Powell 'was right' in notorious Rivers of Blood speech|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mp-gerald-howarth-says-enoch-powell-was-right-in-notorious-rivers-of-blood-speech-9693849.html|access-date=28 August 2014|work=[[The Independent]]|date=27 August 2014}}</ref>

On New Year's Day 2023, Season 12 Episode 1 of ''[[Call the Midwife]]'' ('April 1968') aired, dealing with the aftermath and impact of the speech, including the 1968 dockworkers' strike.<ref>{{cite news|first=Simon |last=Duke |url= https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/tv/call-the-midwife-racism-nurse-25875602.amp|newspaper=Chronicle Live |title=Call The Midwife racism storyline leaves viewers 'heartbroken' as upset Nurse Robinson walks outdateout|date=1 January 2023 |access-date=2 January 2023}}</ref>

* [[Demography of the United Kingdom|Demographics of the United Kingdom]]

* [[Racism in the UKBritish Conservative Party]]