ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the hostile reactions to anti-discrimination schemes as they were being discussed at Parliament during the passing of the Race Relations Bill. It zeroes in on Powellite anger at welfare provision extended to immigrants, through discourses that may be associated with what has become known since around 1990 as “welfare chauvinism”. What therefore emerges from these pages is that the State was construed as doubly inimical to British whites: not only did it protect immigrants through the Race Relations Bill but it also provided what seemed like abundant help through welfare schemes, schooling and health facilities. Immigration controls themselves are scarcely mentioned in the letters. On the contrary, the Race Relations Bill, whether named or not, appears a true backlash leitmotiv. The Birmingham speech uninhibited prejudices freely vented in what Bill Schwarz has called “reveries of race”.
