The Lives and Afterlives of Enoch Powell

The Undying Political Animal

Olivier Esteves, Stéphane Porion, Olivier Esteves, Stéphane Porion

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781138339286
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429805165
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

50 years after Enoch Powell's self-styled detonation in the form of his so-called 'Rivers of Blood' speech, this volume brings together contributions from international scholars in the field of history, political science and British studies, with new insights from hitherto unexplored archives. It investigates some of the key national and grassroots parameters which, from above and from below, led to Powell's violent irruption into the immigration debate in 1968. It apprehends Powell as a political and intellectual figure firmly established in the British Tory tradition, a tradition which was to shape the 1970s debate on race and immigration, and be avidly instrumentalised by the British far-right. It also analyses Powell's positioning vis-à-vis the Irish question, and apprehends Powell's late-1960s moment from an international standpoint, as one of the early stages of the conservative revolution which was to culminate in 2016 with Trump's election. Lastly, this book weaves a thread between Powell and another recent political detonation: Brexit.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• List of contributors
• Introduction
• 1. Powell and after: Immigration, race and politics in Britain
• 2. Wrathful rememberers: Harnessing the memory of World War II in letters of support to Powell
• 3. Powell and the media: an insider’s account
• 4. An international press review of the Powell moment (1968–1973)
• 5. The rise of the Runnymede Trust: Enoch Powell and the media wars
• 6. Enoch Powell, British nationality and the Irish question, 1968–1987
• 7. Enoch Powell, Julian Amery and debates over Britain’s world role after 1945
• 8. The end of an intellectual journey: How Alfred Sherman’s ideas on immigration and the British nation were framed by Powellism (1968–1979)
• 9. “Enoch was right” – the Powell effect on the National Front in the 1970s
• 10. The ambivalence of UKIP towards Enoch Powell’s legacy
• Conclusion
• Index