Which English politician made his ‘Rivers of Blood’ Speech in April 1968?
Rivers of Blood speech of the BBC's decision to broadcast the still-controversial speech. Rivers of Blood speech On 20 April 1968, British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell addressed a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom. His speech strongly criticised mass immigration, especially Commonwealth immigration to the United Kingdom and the proposed Race Relations Bill. It became known as the "Rivers of Blood" speech, although Powell always referred to it as "the Birmingham speech". The expression "rivers of blood" did not appear in the speech but is an allusion to a line from Virgil's "Aeneid" which he quoted: "as I look
Rivers of Blood speech Gallup poll, for example, showed that 75% of the population were sympathetic to Powell's views. An NOP poll showed that approximately 75% of the British population agreed with Powell's demand for non-white immigration to be halted completely, and about 60% agreed with his inflammatory call for the repatriation of non-whites already resident in Britain. The Rivers of Blood speech has been blamed for leading to "Paki-bashing", violent attacks against British Pakistanis and other British Asians, which were unleashed shortly after the inflammatary speech in 1968; however, there is "little agreement on the extent to which Powell was responsible for racial