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Enoch Powell

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Politician

The Resume

    (June 16, 1912-February 8, 1998)
    Born in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
    Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West (1950-74)
    Ulster Unionist MP for South Down (1974-87)
    Minister of Health (1960-63)
    Best-known for his 'Rivers of Blood' speech urging restrictions on immigration and defeat of pending anti-discrimination legislation (April 20, 1968)

Why he might be annoying:

    During World War II he said, 'I see growing on the horizon the greater peril than Germany or Japan ever were... our terrible enemy, America.'
    He claimed the US was actively trying to give Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland and the Falkland Islands to Argentina.
    He said the CIA was behind the assassinations of Lord Mountbatten and MP Airey Neave.
    As Health Minister, he dismissed reports of children being born with deformities because of thalidomide with the comment, 'Anyone who took so much as an aspirin put himself at risk.'
    He predicted that continued immigration of blacks and Asians to Britain would lead to civil war.
    He advocated allowing discrimination on the basis of race to remain legal.
    The Bishop of Croydon said, 'Enoch Powell gave a certificate of respectability to white racist views which otherwise decent people were ashamed to acknowledge.'
    When a fellow MP called him 'the Alf Gannett [the equivalent of Archie Bunker in 'Til Death Do Us Part,' the inspiration for All in the Family] of British politics,' he replied, 'Alf Gannet? Who's he? One of the new ministers?'

Why he might not be annoying:

    Before going into politics, he was a classics scholar and was appointed Professor of Greek at the University of Sydney at age 25. (Although he was disappointed at not equaling NIetzsche's record of becoming a full professor at age 24.)
    He graduated top of class from officer training school.
    As an intelligence officer, he helped plan the Battle of El Alamein.
    Ironically, as Minister of Health he encouraged black and Asian immigrants from Commonwealth countries to get jobs with the then-understaffed National Health Service.
    He co-sponsored the bill to decriminalize homosexual acts (1965).
    At age 70, he began learning Hebrew, his 12th language.
    Margaret Thatcher said about his views on immigration, 'He made a valid argument, if in sometimes regrettable terms.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 26 Votes: 23.08% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 29 Votes: 62.07% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 21 Votes: 52.38% Annoying