Enoch Powell may have Prevented a War

When Edward Heath took over leadership of the conservative party in 1965, he gave Enoch Powell choice of what shadow cabinet role he wished to take up. Many thought Enoch would choose shadow treasurer due to his relentless outspoken views on libertarian economics, but surprisingly he chose shadow defence secretary. This was partly due to the fact he thought it was a good access point towards commenting on public spending, but also so he could become more vocal on his now developed anti-imperialist vision of Britain. Just prior to the 1966 general election Powell made a speech in Falkirk making vocal his strong suspicions that Britain may be heading to war with Vietnam.

The previous day Powell had received a message instructing him to phone central office in which he was notified that there were rumours the then prime minister Harold Wilson was planning to send a small token force to Vietnam in aid of the Americans. In his brilliant speech Powell highlighted how Britain had effectively became a satellite state of America, regurgitating a number of instances in recent years that Britain had asked for permission from America to pursue its own national interest and how it applauded American actions like an ‘obedient commentator’. He demanded Wilson should let the public know prior to the election what his plans were for aiding the Americans.

Denis Healy, then secretary of state for defence, described Powell’s concerns as a ‘delusion’, and Harold Wilson called them a ‘last minute scare’ before the election. However, in 1970 Wilson admitted that President Lyndon Johnson did in fact ask him for military assistance, and it was reported in Washington that the public’s reaction to Powell’s speech was so strong that it had made any British involvement in the war impossible. Enoch’s Americo-scepticism that was formed through US desire to destroy the British Empire during the Second World War, and their threat of bankrupting Britain during the Suez crisis had managed to manifest itself in a way that may well have saved many people’s lives. Thirty years after the event Enoch remarked that if it was true his speech had stopped British military intervention in Vietnam then it was the ‘greatest service I have performed for my country’.