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Posted on 11/13/2007 2:25:53 PM PST by UKrepublican
Tory branch refuse to ditch Enoch 'was right' candidate in snub to Cameron
Tory leader David Cameron faced fresh embarrassment after rebel Tory activists snubbed calls to ditch a Parliamentary candidate who said Enoch Powell "was right" on immigration.
The Halesowen and Rowley Regis constituency association refused to accept the resignation of would-be MP Nigel Hastilow and instead demanded crisis talks with the Conservative Party Board, the organisation's top decision-making body.
Senior Tories had hoped the local party would drop Hastilow, 51, who quit on November 4 after refusing to apologise for comments he made in a newspaper column in support of Powell's 1968 "rivers of blood" speech.
Officials have been lobbying the local association in a desperate bid to limit the bad publicity, asking them to move on and choose another candidate.
But local members remain furious at the way Hastilow was treated by the party HQ and refused to accept his resignation, saying his views on immigration have widespread support.
The association's executive held an emergency meeting amid a bizarre cloak of secrecy on Monday night. Party members were told of the venue, in Halesowen, less than an hour before the meeting started.
In a brief statement issued after the meeting, and approved by the Conservative Party press office, Mary Docker, chairman of Halesowen and Rowley Regis Conservative Association said: "A meeting of the Halesowen and Rowley Regis Conservative Association Executive was held and resolved to request advice from the Party Board regarding the candidature of Mr Nigel Hastilow."
The board, which meets once a month, comprises senior Tories including multi-millionaire Lord Ashcroft and party chairman Caroline Spelman, who tried unsuccessfully to get Hastilow to apologise for his comments when the storm first broke.
Hastilow yesterday hinted he would be eager to return as the Tory candidate if a compromise could be reached.
The former newspaper editor, who maintains his original comments were not racist, said: "I am very grateful for all the support I have received from my friends in the Halesowen and Rowley Regis constituency. Their backing has meant a great deal to me.
"However, I have no wish to be responsible for the constituency association finding itself at odds with the Conservative Party nationally.
"If an accommodation can be reached, then I would be delighted. But that is for others to determine.
"The constituency association must make its decisions in the best interests of the party locally and nationally.
"Halesowen and Rowley Regis is a crucial marginal constituency and what matters most is ensuring General Election victory here for the Conservative Party."
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I’ll be impressed if any of our American FRiends knows of Enoch Powell and his famous speech!
Off the top of my head, I’m not.
But I’m gonna do an Internet search for it now!
I not only know of the speech, but know that Mr. Powell was unjustly bounced from the shadow cabinet over it. Mr. Powell was absolutely right, which is why he was silenced and why anyone who speaks well of him must be punished.
Whether politically correct or not, the “Rivers of Blood” speech was prophetic.
I have been saying Enoch Powell was right, here in Free Republic, for years and years. Of course he was right. Too bad most of the fools who ignored his warnings and set the UK on the road to ruin aren’t around to see the results of their frighteningly bad judgment.
I just read about him the other evening on your previous ping to the News of the World immigration story. The amount of anger I saw in the NOTW response section was even greater than the pain and anger against NHS and the filthy conditions of some UK hospitals.
Apparently the Tories ran away from Enoch, but the populace agreed with him. He was right!
We have a similar immigration struggle here, as you know. Something’s got to give!
I just read that speech early today on FR.
Had never heard of him ( I was 14 in 68)
He was absolutely right.
He was right then and it’s still “Spot On” today.
There you go - gross distortion by the media - he did NOT say "Enoch Powell "was right" on immigration"
He said that some people now believed that Enoch Powell was right - that is NOT the same thing.
He was not expressing his own belief, he was making an observation of other peoples' beliefs as they were expressed to him given the current situation.
Well I do, and I know enough about it to know that he never used the phrase "Rivers of Blood".
He made reference to Virgil as he said "As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see 'the River Tiber foaming with much blood'. That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come."
Apparently Powell neglected to organize a Pro-British movement/faction within the Conservative Party, but this article seems encouraging if reality is finally setting-in among the British electorate.
Enoch Powell was a man of immense personal convictions, which he upheld even when they were unpopular. In other words, the kind of politician that we really need and that is all too rarely found these days.
However, US freepers probably wouldnt like him too much.
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