Celebrities Past And Present

The Right honourable John Enoch Powell, MBE (1912-1998 was a classical scholar, a poet, a brigadier and a politician. Powell was a Conservative MP from 1950 until 1974 and then an Ulster Unionist from 1974 until 1987. In his political career he held the offices of Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Local Government (1955-1957), Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1957-1958) and Minister of Health (1960-1963). On 20th April 1968, at the Midland Hotel in Birmingham, Enoch Powell made a speech about immigration and anti-discrimination legislation. The language in Powell's so-called "Rivers of Blood" speech was so inflammatory, that the subject of immigration became almost unapproachable in mainstream British politics for decades and would over-shadow Powell's entire career.