QUOTE OF THE MONTH

‘Politicians on both sides, furious about the “river of blood” speech in 1968, claimed then – and some still do – that Powell’s speech hindered reform. It was so extreme, you see, that it made it difficult for us moderate men to do something about immigration, which we obviously had intended to do when the occasion was suitable, when the time was right, at the appropriate juncture, etc.

I promise you as God is my witness that what the two frontbenches wanted to do was nothing, nil, zero, rien and nicht. It was this conspiracy of silence and inertia which enraged Powell and much of the public. It is understandable why he became hated by Labour figures like Roy Hattersley, interviewed on the programme. For it meant that he and his fellow socialists had been found out.’

Andrew Alexander, writing in the Daily Mail.