A few days ago I finished reading The Life of Enoch Powell by Simon Heffer. I will be honest in saying that this is definitely the longest book I have ever read, being a length of almost one thousand pages and printed on much larger sheets than any of my other paperbacks. I will also be honest in saying that there were times in which I felt myself exhaling at the sheer magnitude of this book, particularly after endless paragraphs on Enoch’s free market economic beliefs. However, regardless of this minor complaint I have to say this may well be the best biography I have ever read.
During the reading of this book I wrote a few blog entries on some of the specifics that caught my attention. This includes Enoch’s early years, his evolving attitudes towards imperialism and his opposition to Britain’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The first two hundred pages naturally focus on Enoch’s years prior to politics, and it was these early chapters I found the most thrilling and captivating. After all, our personalities and politics are heavily influenced by the environment we grow up in and the events that we witness. So naturally my interest gravitated towards wanting to know more about the man behind the politics.
Enoch’s intellectual prowess was really something to be admired, and in many cases during his career, feared. More so by the members of his own party rather than his opponents, of whom he formed an alliance with on many issues following Britain’s joining of the EEC in 1973. Simon Heffer mentions early on in the book that many suggest Enoch may have had a somewhat over baring mother – who was a school teacher, and taught Enoch the alphabet by age three - , and that this may have led to a desire to please her through academic pursuits. Enoch himself denied this, but one cannot say his mother had anything other than an amazingly positive influence on his life. Reading Herodotus and Thucydides by the age of six, attending six form at the age of thirteen, winning every scholarship and prize available, attaining a double first at Trinity, becoming a professor at the age of twenty five and eventually being fluent in seven languages has led me to believe that Enoch Powell may well have been one of the most, if not the most intelligent minister of parliament this country has ever had.
What helped Powell achieve his high levels of academic knowledge sadly may well have been the same thing that stopped him from attaining high levels of office. Most of his time as a pupil was spent studying in his room, waking at 5:30am to begin his translation of Herodotus and studying in a cold environment, which he said prevented him from becoming drowsy. During this time he made much less friends than others around him, earning him the nickname of ‘loner’, something which followed him long into his political career. This attitude of sacrificing his social life for gains in knowledge was something that prevented him from being able to play the game of politics. This being similar to most other professions, in that knowing the right people will get you places.
Wherever Powell did make friends however, he usually always had a profound impact on them, managing to change their minds, like in the case of his stint as secretary to the treasurer. When the cuts they proposed were rejected Powell managed to persuade the then treasurer, Peter Thorneycroft, and fellow secretary, Birch, to resign alongside him in principle. Equally, when Powell made enemies they seemed to hate him with a passion. Powell discovered early on into Edward Heaths leadership that he was not being listened to at the shadow cabinet meetings. Heath apparently had Powell moved from opposite the table from him due to feeling uncomfortable at Powell’s scowl and roaming eyes. He would also outright blank Enoch’s contributions at the meetings, sometimes not even giving a rebuttal to his ideas, and instead simply moving onto the next agenda. No doubt because Heath couldn’t actually rebut much of what Powell was saying, and instead of admitting he was wrong and incorporating some of Enoch’s ideas into party policy, he rather decided –seeing him as a threat - to become more stubborn and shut Enoch’s ideas out altogether.
I had a feeling that this frustration Powell had with Edward Heath may have partly manifested itself within the Rivers of Blood speech. Although Powell claimed to have never held a grudge against Heath, – something I believe to be true once Powell contributed to Heaths collapse in 1974 – at the time of the speech it felt as if he did want to make an impact upon conservative policy and upon Heath himself. However, Powell being a politician of conviction undoubtedly believed every word he said in that speech, and it is tragic to see that so much of what he said has been taken completely out of context. Many of the segments recorded by the camera hide that he was reading out quotes from concerned constituents, and many have used his poetic quotes to insinuate he was calling for something hideous to erupt on the streets of England. The speech gave Heath the ammunition he needed to sack Powell from the shadow cabinet. Powell never sat on the cabinet again.
Following Heath taking Britain into the EU on a parliamentary majority of eight, Powell decided he could no longer stand in election for a party that had surrendered the sovereignty of the country he loved. He went across the pond to Northern Ireland and stood for the Ulster Unionists, a seat he held for thirteen years. Enoch had a great passion for the unionist cause, previously frequenting Ulster to give speeches, as well as being extremely critical of the government’s policy toward the six counties, policies he saw as the surrender of them to the Republic of Ireland. Enoch lost his seat in 1987 by around 750 votes and was reportedly plunged into a deep depression for an amount of time.
Through the book there are a few touching and interesting moments worth mentioning. One of these moments was when he was living on his own in the constituency he was campaigning in, and decided to stay there over Christmas, alone. Secretaries from his local branch – including his future wife – learned about this and brought him a Christmas tree, to which he was ‘almost moved to tears’ by the gesture, a moment which displayed how lonely he felt prior to meeting his wife. Powell also believed that MI6 were behind much of the terrorism in Northern Ireland and in particular believed they were behind the killing of Airey Neave. He also believed that Shakespeare did not write his own plays, claiming that there was no way that someone outside of court at that time could have had that much knowledge of how it functioned, knowledge which is displayed within his writings. These are two subjects I wish Powell wrote about in detail, but there are plenty of books on the internet about these two theories, which may well be my next focus of research. The final touching moment of the book ultimately has to be Enoch’s death. After reading a one thousand page book on a great individual’s life and reading through the decline of their health and ultimate fate makes it hard to hold back the tears.
I must say thanks to Simon Heffer for writing such a brilliant and comprehensive book on the best prime minister this country never had.
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