Enoch Powell’s 1968 speech demanded strict immigration controls and repatriation.

Evidence

In 1968 in Birmingham, in a speech which made history in the United Kingdom, Enoch Powell, a member of the Conservative Party Shadow Cabinet, predicted that there would be “rivers of blood” in the country if his version of Conservative Party policy was not adopted: strict control of immigration, encouragement of repatriation of immigrants and family reunion in the country of origin, opposition to the legislation on racial discrimination which, in his opinion would give the black British more rights than the whites. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3125

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘rivers of blood’ speech connects to contemporary debates about immigration control and the far right in the UK.