Cameron must drop 'Enoch was right' candidate
sunderkatwala Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 10:50:02 AM GMT 
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This must surely be a no-brainer for a leader whose primary purpose is to show his party has changed. But Cameron must deepen his change project to rebut the charge that he is simply the pretty face for a party where too many have not changed their ugly views on race.
Ted Heath showed political courage in sacking Enoch Powell from the Tory frontbench in 1968. Heath, then leader of the opposition, said that the `rivers of blood' speech was "racialist in tone and liable to exacerbate racial tensions".
Heath's leadership turned 'Enoch was right' into a favourite slogan of the racist far right and thier fellow travellers on the Conservative extreme right.
So, forty years on, David Cameron has a no-brainer of a decision to make. The Conservative leader has invested much political capital in persuading his own party that `a mono-ethnic party can not represent a multi-ethnic Britain' and the country that his party has changed. He will surely realise that he will have no credibility if Nigel Hastilow is allowed to stand as a Conservative candidate at the next election. Anything less would be a failure of leadership.
Cameron wants to be able to criticise immigration and multiculturalism policy, and it must be his right to do. But his pledge to ensure that the Conservative party accepts "the reality of our ethnically diverse society that we all celebrate and only embittered reactionaries like the BNP object to". That must mean showing that inflammatory `Enoch was right' politics have no place in his party.
To new generations of British born citizens from a wide range of ethnic and mixed race backgrounds, `Enoch was right' can mean only one thing to us. `You do not really belong here and you never will. Your parents should never have come. You will never be equal citizens in your own country'.
But it would be good for our democracy if Britons, regardless of their ethnic background, could feel comfortable in any party if they shared its ideas and values. There have always been Conservatives (including Heath and John Major) who have made a strong stance on racism inside their party - yet many black, Asian and mixed race Britons will feel there is still a long way to go. Cameron must deepen his change project to rebut the charge that he is simply the pretty face for a party where too many have not changed their ugly views on race.
Sunder Katwala is General Secretary of the Fabian Society
Heath's leadership turned 'Enoch was right' into a favourite slogan of the racist far right and thier fellow travellers on the Conservative extreme right.
So, forty years on, David Cameron has a no-brainer of a decision to make. The Conservative leader has invested much political capital in persuading his own party that `a mono-ethnic party can not represent a multi-ethnic Britain' and the country that his party has changed. He will surely realise that he will have no credibility if Nigel Hastilow is allowed to stand as a Conservative candidate at the next election. Anything less would be a failure of leadership.
Cameron wants to be able to criticise immigration and multiculturalism policy, and it must be his right to do. But his pledge to ensure that the Conservative party accepts "the reality of our ethnically diverse society that we all celebrate and only embittered reactionaries like the BNP object to". That must mean showing that inflammatory `Enoch was right' politics have no place in his party.
To new generations of British born citizens from a wide range of ethnic and mixed race backgrounds, `Enoch was right' can mean only one thing to us. `You do not really belong here and you never will. Your parents should never have come. You will never be equal citizens in your own country'.
But it would be good for our democracy if Britons, regardless of their ethnic background, could feel comfortable in any party if they shared its ideas and values. There have always been Conservatives (including Heath and John Major) who have made a strong stance on racism inside their party - yet many black, Asian and mixed race Britons will feel there is still a long way to go. Cameron must deepen his change project to rebut the charge that he is simply the pretty face for a party where too many have not changed their ugly views on race.
Sunder Katwala is General Secretary of the Fabian Society
Cameron must drop 'Enoch was right' candidate | 7 comments (7 topical)
Cameron must drop 'Enoch was right' candidate | 7 comments (7 topical)
