Page "Enoch Powell" Paragraph 92

In July ,, a riot took place in Toxteth, Liverpool.

On 16 July, Powell gave a speech in the Commons in which he said the riots could not be understood unless one takes into consideration the fact that in some large cities between a quarter and a half of those under 25 were immigrant or descended from immigrants.

He read out a letter he had received from a member of the public about immigration which included the line: " As they continue to multiply and as we can't retreat further there must be conflict ".

A Labour MP Martin Flannery intervened, saying Powell was making " a National Front speech ".

Powell predicted " inner London becoming ungovernable or violence which could only effectively be described as civil war " and Flannery intervened again to ask what Powell knew about inner cities.