Re: Brexit Anyone ? (part 3) : Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:29 am
Cronus wrote:
For decades any criticism of immigration was shouted down as racism and xenophobia. That refusal to listen to people's genuine concerns built into a palpable anger and resentment that contributed enormously to the growth of UKIP and ultimately the Brexit vote. Indeed, only when UKIP exploded in popularity did the main parties start to even utter the word immigration. Yet here we still are, the slightest opportunity to seize on someone's colour of skin and the left draw the race card.
I had just left England when, in 1968, Enoch Powell kicked off an immigration debate with his so-called "Rivers of Blood" speech. I was living in London before then and immigration concerns were rapidly surfacing. The last time I voted before leaving was at a by-election in early 1965 in a 'safe' Labour seat in Leyton and contested by a guy who as a Labour candidate had been beaten in the 1964 General Election won by Labour.
At Smethwick in that 1964 GE the Conservatives ran a successful racist campaign using an extremely racist slogan. In Leyton pamphlets, posters and banners were distributed widely displaying the same slogan. A swing of over 8% gave the Conservative candidate a narrow win.
The slogan- "If you want a N*gger for a neighbour vote Labour." Labour candidate was the late Baron Patrick Gordon-Walker.
