Shopkeeper is 'gobsmacked' after picture of Enoch Powell in her window is recorded by police as 'non-crime hate incident'

Daily Mail​

22-05-2025

A grandmother is under investigation over a 'non-crime hate incident' after she displayed a photo of Enoch Powell in her shop window.
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'.