Shopkeeper is 'gobsmacked' after picture of Enoch Powell in her window is recorded by police as 'non-crime hate incident'
The portrait was placed next to an extract of the late Conservative MP's famous 1968 "rivers of blood" speech in which he warned mass migration would lead to violence on Britain's streets.
West Mercia Police are now carrying out enquiries into the image, saying it was reported as 'offensive content'.
It comes as shopkeeper Elizabeth Griffiths had also given photos of Winston Churchill, Jesus, St Francis of Assisi and Donald Trump pride of place in her street-facing window.
The rivers of blood speech got its name from its allusion to the Roman poet Virgil where Mr Powell famously stated 'as I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see the River foaming with much blood'.
It was condemned by the mainstream media at the time and effectively ended the then-55-year-old's political career.
Mr Powell has since proved a controversial figure, though there are claims Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer's "Island of Strangers" speech earlier this month has vindicated him - with the late MP having said over 50 years ago British people would find themselves 'strangers in their own country'.
The rivers of blood speech got its name from its allusion to the Roman poet Virgil where Mr Powell famously stated 'as I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see the River foaming with much blood'
What was Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech?
Enoch Powell became a Conservative MP in 1950 and had risen to become Shadow Defence Secretary at the time of his speech.
It was first delivered to local Conservative party members in Birmingham, ahead of a second reading of the Race Relations Act 1968.
Feeling distressed at what he felt was his party's weak opposition to the Labour government's immigration policy, he resolved to speak out, in the strongest possible terms, about what he felt had to be done.
Powell's 25-minute speech contained high rhetoric and vivid language.
It warned, in the starkest possible terms, that unless immigration was stopped — and immigrants already in the UK were given financial incentives to return home — there would be racial strife of a seriousness never before seen in Britain.
He quoted the poet Virgil when he said: 'Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood,' from where the speech takes its 'rivers of blood' name.
In his speech, Powell also quoted extensively from two of his own constituents.
One was 'a middle-aged working man' who, he claimed, had told him: 'I have three children; all of them been through grammar school and two of them are married now, with family. I shan't be satisfied till I have seen them all settled overseas.
'In this country in 15 or 20 years' time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.'
The other constituent was an elderly woman who claimed to be the last remaining white British person on her Wolverhampton street.
'She is becoming afraid to go out,' said Powell. 'Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letterbox. When she goes to the shops she is followed by children — charming, wide-grinning piccaninnies.'
Ms Griffiths, a Reform UK activist and grandmother of 12 said she had showcased the images to 'promote powerful leaders'.
The trader, who runs Mumfords, an ironmonger in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire placed the image of Mr Powell in her window in February.
Following the police investigation, which began last week after a member of public claimed the portrait was offensive, Ms Griffiths has since placed a photo of Mr Starmer in her window to suggest his recent speech proves Mr Powell was correct.
A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: 'On 16 May, we received a report of offensive content displayed in a shop window on Church Street in Cleobury Mortimer.
'This is being treated as a hate incident, and inquiries are ongoing.' The spokesman later clarified it was being treated as a non-crime hate incident (NCHI).
Ms Griffiths claimed the report to police was a 'vendetta' because she had campaigned for Reform UK in the local elections earlier this month.
She added she had received 'absolutely no police contact whatsoever' about the alleged 'hate incident' and had not been spoken to by officers about it.
The Brexiteer explained: 'I am gobsmacked and baffled beyond belief. I did it to promote powerful leaders.
'For some reason, three and a half months later, there is a decision to try and focus on just one picture.
'I am not racist in any shape or form. Oh, good gracious no. I deal with Muslims every week. The Muslims I deal with are generally entrepreneurial. They are successful in business. They haven't come across on boats.'
She concluded: 'I'm used to being bullied for standing up for what I believe in.'
Mr Powell spoke German, French, Italian, Modern Greek, and Urdu.
A poll taken after his controversial speech reported 74 per cent of Britons agreed with his opinions on mass immigration.
But some public figures denounced it as 'evil', claiming the speech would stoke division and encourage generalisations.
Conservative politician Michael Heseltine stated in its aftermath that if Enoch Powell had stood for leadership of the Conservative party he would have won 'by a landslide' and if he had stood to be Prime Minister he would have won by a 'national landslide'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
So was Lucy Connolly really such a danger that she had to spend a year behind bars? JAN MOIR
After serving 40 per cent of her 31-month sentence, Lucy Connolly walked free from prison on Thursday morning. Remember Lucy? She was found guilty of sending hate crime tweets in the immediate aftermath of the Southport attacks last year, in which three little girls were murdered and others stabbed and injured at a Taylor Swift dance class.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Britain is facing an autumn of discontent: Essential services to be crippled by weeks of strikes
Britain is bracing itself for an autumn of discontent with essential services across the country crippled by strikes in coming weeks. London Underground workers are to walk out next month in a dispute over pay and conditions, the RMT union announced on Thursday. The workers will begin the week-long walkout on Friday, September 5, just as schools reopen and office staff return to their normal routines. Union leaders said rail bosses had 'refused to engage seriously' with their demands on pay as well as concerns about fatigue management and 'extreme shift patterns'. Underground workers were also demanding a reduction in the working week and to honour previous agreements made with staff. In a separate dispute over pay and conditions, workers on the Docklands Light Railway will also be striking during this period. The union said the action would bring 'significant disruption to the capital's transport network'. Meanwhile, GPs, junior doctors and nurses indicated they may strike during the winter months demanding higher pay and funding. And discontent has hit other sectors, including bin collectors in London, as well as Birmingham, where a five-month walkout is set to continue until Christmas over pay cuts. The threat of further strikes will come as a blow to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who had hoped to tame the unions with promises of backdated public sector pay rises, as well as Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has attempted to balance demands from the unions with struggling government budgets. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government had a 'responsibility' to stand up to pay rise demands and keep the country working. 'You look at the range of pressures we're facing domestically, internationally, economically, public services, the expectations of the country, the pain that families are feeling in their pockets and I'm always conscious that over and above everyone else, Keir and Rachel are carrying all of those pressures together', he told the Political Currency podcast. 'And so I think it is our responsibility to say to our own departments, or own audiences, or the people we're responsible for and the services that we're responsible for, 'you need to understand that we can't do everything for everyone, everywhere, all at once'.' Martin Beck, WPI Strategy's chief economist, told The Telegraph that the impending train strikes could hugely impact the capital: 'We estimate that it could cost the London economy up to a quarter of a billion pounds in the form of lost revenue to TfL and London businesses, more congestion on the roads and extra travel time for commuters.' Labour Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan also blasted the walkouts. A spokesman said: 'Nobody wants to see strike action or disruption for Londoners. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government had a 'responsibility' to stand up to pay rise demands and keep the country working 'The mayor urges the RMT and TfL to get around the table to resolve this matter and avoid industrial action.' RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said: 'Our members are doing a fantastic job to keep our capital moving and work strenuous shift patterns to make sure Londoners get to their destinations around the clock. 'They are not after a King's ransom, but fatigue and extreme shift rotations are serious issues impacting on our members health and wellbeing- all of which have not been adequately addressed for years by LU management. 'Coupled with the fact there are outstanding issues around staff travel arrangements, an atmosphere of distrust has been created, where our members feel like no one is listening to them. 'RMT will continue to engage LU management with a view to seeking a revised offer in order to reach a negotiated settlement.' A Transport for London spokesperson said: 'We regularly meet with our trade unions to discuss any concerns that they may have, and we recently met with the RMT to discuss some specific points. 'We are committed to ensuring our colleagues are treated fairly and, as well as offering a 3.4% pay increase in our ongoing pay discussions, we have made progress on a number of commitments we have made previously. 'We welcome further engagement with our unions about fatigue and rostering across London Underground, but a reduction in the contractual 35-hour working week is neither practical nor affordable. 'Given the improvements we have recently put in place in response to concerns raised by our unions, we urge the RMT to put our fair, affordable pay offer to their members and to continue to engage with us rather than threaten strike action, which will only disrupt Londoners.' The strikes will involve different parts of the rail network striking at different times. On Friday September 5 and Saturday 6, managers at Ruislip depot are set to strike over pay, in a separate walkout to the main dispute. The Central Line is likely to be affected. On Sunday 7, track access controllers, power control and Emergency Response Unit (ERU) workers will refuse to work. This is likely to cause long delays in the case of any incidents and could affect all Tube lines. On Monday 8 and Wednesday 10, the majority of engineers and station workers will walk out, which will likely lead to stations closing from lack of staff and fewer trains available on the network. While on Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11, signallers, service control and ERU members will strike. This is likely to cancel most of the services as trains are not able to safely run without signalling staff.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Britain is buying new air defence missile systems - but can they protect us?
Why you can trust Sky News The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced it will buy £118m worth of air defence missile systems for the British Army. But will this new purchase protect an increasingly vulnerable UK from attack, and why now? For more than 50 years, the British Army relied on the Rapier air defence missile system to protect deployed forces. In 2021, that system was replaced by Sky Sabre. The new system is mobile, ground-based, and designed to counter various aerial threats, including fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, drones, and guided munitions. It's known for its speed, accuracy, and ability to integrate with other military assets, including those of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (and NATO). What is the Land Ceptor missile, and why do we need more of them? Sky Sabre includes radar, command, and control capability and - most importantly - a missile to intercept incoming threats. The Land Ceptor missile weighs around 100kg, has a 10kg warhead, and can intercept threats out to around 15 miles (25km), making it around three times more effective than the Rapier system it replaced. When the MoD made the decision to replace the Rapier system, the global threat environment was very different to that experienced today. Since the end of the Cold War, the UK has been involved in expeditionary warfare - wars of choice - and generally against less capable adversaries. So, although the Land Ceptor missile is very capable, defence planning assumptions (DPAs) were that they would not need to be used in a serious way, commensurate with the threat. However, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated (as has the series of Iranian attacks on Israel), significantly larger stockpiles are required against a more capable enemy. Is the UK vulnerable to missile attack? In short, yes. Although the Land Ceptor missile does provide an excellent point-defence capability, it is not an effective counter to ballistic or hypersonic missiles - the Sea Viper mounted on Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyers using the Aster 30 missile has that capability. In the Cold War, the UK had Bloodhound missiles deployed around the UK to provide a missile defence capability, but as the perceived risks to the UK abated following the collapse of the Soviet Union, UK missile defence fell down the priorities for the MoD. Although the radar based at RAF Fylingdales forms part of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) can detect incoming threats, the UK no longer has an effective interceptor to protect critical national infrastructure. Instead, the UK relies on the layered defences of European allies to act as a deterrence against attack. In the near term, this timely order for Land Ceptor missiles doubles the British Army's tactical capability. However, as the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated, ballistic (and increasingly hypersonic) missiles are being produced in increasing quantity - and quality. Without significant (and rapid) investment, this critical gap in national military capability leaves the UK vulnerable to attack.
