"Trevor Huddleston: [W]hat I still want to know from you, really, is why the presence of a coloured immigrant group is objectionable, when the presence of a non-coloured immigrant is not objectionable. Enoch Powell: Oh no, oh no! On the contrary, I have often said that if we saw the prospect of five million Germans in this country at the end of the century, the risks of disruption and violence would probably be greater, and the antagonism which would be aroused would be more severe. The reason why the whole debate in this country on immigration is related to coloured immigration, is because there has been no net immigration of white Commonwealth citizens, and there could be no migration of aliens. This is merely an automatic consequence of the facts of the case; it is not because there is anything different, because there is anything necessarily more dangerous, about the alienness of a community from Asia, than about the alienness of a community from Turkey or from Germany, that we discuss this inevitably in terms of colour. It is because it is that problem."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomPolitical leadersPoets from EnglandPeople from BirminghamAnglicans from the United Kingdom
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
The Great Debate, BBC TV (9 September 1969), quoted in Reflections of a Statesman: The Writings and Speeches of Enoch Powell (1991), pp. 399-400
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Enoch Powell
politician, linguist, poet
1912 – 1998 · United Kingdom
John Enoch Powell (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974), then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP (1974–1987), and was Minister of Health (1960–1963).
352 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Enoch Powell →
Related Quotes
"Some problems are unavoidable. Some evils can be coped with to a certain extent, but not prevented. But that a nation…"
"Once you go nuclear at all, you go nuclear for good; and you know it. Here is the parting of the ways, for from this …"
"I find in my constituency in the last few weeks an ominous deterioration, which is taking the form not of discriminat…"
"Often when I am kneeling down in church, I think to myself how much we should thank God, the Holy Ghost for the gift …"
"He talks so fascinatingly on history, architecture and many subjects that politics seldom came up, but I should be di…"
"There is a sense of hopelessness and helplessness which comes over persons who are trapped or imprisoned, when all th…"
"She is becoming afraid to go out. Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letterbox. When she goes t…"
"As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood.""
"Integration of races of totally disparate origins and culture is one of the great myths of our time. It has never wor…"
"It is advertising that enthrones the customer as king. This infuriates the socialist...[it is] the crossing of the bo…"