ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Parliamentary Debates concerned with Immigration and the discourse of 'race' in the period 1957-1968. As Miles has recognised, what is central to such analysis is the relationship between political language and the concept of 'race'. The chapter argues that the case for a re-examination of this relationship, empirically, by showing, firstly, that Parliamentary language from the late 1950s to the early 1960s can be shown to be racist. It presents a comparative account of Debates up to 1968. The chapter proposes contra the New Racism theorists, the period from 1957 - 1968 is of greater significance in the development and understanding of the language of 'race' politics than the period commencing in 1968 with the emergence of Powellism. The language and arguments they have developed to bridge the constituency experience of ‘race’ and Immigration to the national-political arena is arguably the single most important influence, Powellism not withstanding, on the formation and development of legislation.
