Enoch Powell , who was he , what was his agenda ?

[LAW_DROP-OUT]

Enoch Powell , what was his agenda, and who was he ?

[DotH]

he was a brilliant politician and both a man of his time and a man ahead of his time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell

[bensmum]

A man ahead of his time - unfortunately no-one wanted to listen at the time. And I don't think he was racist - he told it like it was.

[jake-the-peg]

Unfortunately the only thing people remember about him now is his infamous 1968 "rivers of blood speech" which was basically an alarmist speech on race.

In it he claimed things like that "In this country 15 or 20 years the black man will have the whip hand over the white man"

Of course 1988 came and went and there are still very few black MPs Judges business men or people with power and influence.

However the problem was the language he used was which was frankly bordering on the hysterical.

Heath sacked him from the shadow cabinet the day after the speech.

But there was more to him than that, surprising things - he was an athiest who became religious, he consistantly voted against the death penalty and spoke in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament.

He was a brilliant man but I'd deeply disagree about him being ahead of his time - the future that he foresaw did not happen - people with racists agendas love to shout "Enoch was right" but he wasn't

[vehelpfulguy]

He is buried in a small graveyard just outside Warwick.

It is in a section for people who served in the army and he is alongside other military grave.

More on his life here:

http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/EPo well.html

[jake-the-peg]

Had he not become obsessed with race and nationalism he could have become Prime Minister.

Instead it was a different Minister for Health in 1979