9. Sikh ‘rites’ and ‘Rivers of Blood’

The so called ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech delivered by Enoch Powell to a Conservative Association meeting in Birmingham on April 20 1968 has been a consistent reference point in Britain on matters concerning race relations, immigration and the Conservative Party.

Towards the end of the speech, prior to his infamous reference to ‘Rivers of Blood’, he quotes John Stonehouse, a member of the Labour Party.

Enoch Powell

“The words I am about to use, verbatim as they appeared in the local press on 17 February, are not mine, but those of a Labour Member of Parliament who is a minister in the present government:

‘The Sikh communities’ campaign to maintain customs inappropriate in Britain is much to be regretted. Working in Britain, particularly in the public services, they should be prepared to accept the terms and conditions of their employment. To claim special communal rights (or should one say rites?) leads to a dangerous fragmentation within society. This communalism is a canker; whether practised by one colour or another it is to be strongly condemned.’

All credit to John Stonehouse for having had the insight to perceive that, and the courage to say it.

For these dangerous and divisive elements the legislation proposed in the Race Relations Bill is the very pabulum they need to flourish. Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organise to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see “the River Tiber foaming with much blood.”

Who was John Stonehouse?

John Stonehouse

Born in Southampton, Stonehouse joined the Labour Party aged 16 and went to study at the London School of Economics. His career as economist saw him involved in co-operative enterprise as a manager of African co-operative societies in Uganda (1952–54) and later as President (1962–64) of the London Co-operative Society.

Stonehouse was elected as Labour MP in 1957 for Wednesbury in Staffordshire under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He later made an unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974 and in a further bizarre twist, some 20 years after his death, there were accusations of him having been an agent for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic military intelligence.

Stonehouse, with his family 1969 (Getty Images). He would later divorce Barbara and marry his secretary-turned-lover Sheila Buckley

What was the fuss about with Sikhs and their “rites”?

In 1960, the Birmingham City Transport placed a ban on turbans for all employees, which led to Sikhs going on strike. That ban was lifted in 1962. Similarly, there was a campaign for the right to wear traditional religious attire in Manchester, from 1959–1966.

The Sikhs’ repertoire of protest involved lobbying and letter-writing as well as public demonstrations. The visible high point of their campaign occurred in March 1968 when 4,000 Sikhs marched silently through Wolverhampton. They were opposed by Wolverhampton Corporation and by its transport committee in particular, by managers in the corporation’s transport department, as well as by the local leadership of the Transport and General Workers Union.

The Times: March 1968 when 4,000 Sikhs marched silently through Wolverhampton

What happened to John Stonehouse?

Julia Stonehouse, author of ‘John Stonehouse, My Father’ fiercely defended her father’s character and intentions: his actions on race matters, his affair with his secretary and the posthumous spying allegations made against him.

My father was probably insensitive to the fact that the turban is a religious requirement, rather than a cultural preference, although he was soon put right and was involved in the negotiations that led to Sikhs wearing turbans in the standard navy-blue uniform colour.

Stonehouse went on to make several radio and TV appearances discussing his disappearance and eventually joined the Social Democratic Party (which later joined the Liberal Democrats).

Julia Stonehouse in the mid-1970s

On April 14, 1988 Stonehouse was admitted to Southampton General hospital after suffering a fourth heart attack. Aged 62, he was pronounced dead at 2.30am on April 14, 1988.

Where does Eric Clapton come into the picture?

During a concert in Birmingham on Aug. 5, 1976, Eric Clapton asked the audience if there were any foreigners present and then went on to say:

“I don’t want you here, in the room or in my country. Listen to me, man! I think we should vote for Enoch Powell. Enoch’s our man. I think Enoch’s right, I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded, and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans and fucking … don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want fucking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country. What is happening to us, for fuck’s sake?”

Eric Clapton through the decades

Clapton alledgedly apologised, although in 2004 when asked about it, he qualified his stance that “there’s no way I could be a racist” by noting that his opinion on immigration policies “hasn’t changed” and that Powell was “outrageously brave.”

Full text of Enoch Powell’s speech can be found here: https://anth1001.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/enoch-powell_speech.pdf