“Enoch was right” – the Powell effect on the National Front in the 1970s

This chapter aims to fill a gap in the historiography by exploring the Powell effect on the National Front (NF) and the way the party harnessed his legacy. The Powell legacy and especially the slogan “Enoch was right” have posed a problem for the Conservative Party’s detoxifying strategy since the Cameron years. Chesterton, and then Tyndall, then leaders of the party, pursued a clear strategy to harness Enoch Powell’s ideas and popularity. Richard Thurlow argues that isolated by the Conservative leadership, Powell ignored the racialist political fringe. For much of the British far-right, Powell has, on the contrary, been elevated to the status of a national hero. At a local level, as the archives disclose, Powell became very popular among NF activists in 1968 and had a boosting effect on the development of local branches. Michael Billig notices that Powell was often asked by his constituents in private correspondence if they should start supporting the National Front.