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British Public Opinion, Colour Issues, and Enoch Powell: a Longitudinal Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

Donley T. Studlar
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Extract

Relationships between the public and the political elite in Britain are generally thought to be explicable in terms of a ‘strong leadership’ hypothesis, according to which the public responds to initiatives put forward by leading political actors. Reflecting the popular will is not thought to be a highly prized activity among British politicians, who supposedly share the general cultural expectation that the public defers to the wisdom of those more knowledgeable than themselves, the public being content with the opportunity to pronounce electorally on the fitness of the Government at least once every five years. Occasionally voices are heard demanding that more attention be paid to the wishes of the general public, as in recent years in regard to the Common Market and capital punishment, but these demands have so far gone unheeded.

Type
Notes and Comments
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , July 1974 , pp. 371 - 381
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

1 See Butler, D. E. and King, Anthony, The British General Election of 1966 (London: Macmillan, 1966), p. 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and James, Robert Rhodes, Ambitions and Realities (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972), p. 159.Google Scholar

2 See Deakin, Nicholas, ‘The Politics of the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill’, Political Quarterly, XXXIX (1968), 25–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Foot, Paul, Immigration and Race in British Politics (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1965), esp. pp. 233–5Google Scholar; Rose, E. J. B. et al., Colour and Citizenship (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 228, 596Google Scholar; Deakin, Nicholas, ed., Colour, Citizenship and British Society (London: Panther Books, 1970), Chap. 5Google Scholar; Michael, and Dummett, Ann, ‘The Role-of Government in Britain's Racial Crisis’, in Donnelly, Lewis, ed., Justice First (London: Sheed and Ward, 1969), pp. 25–79Google Scholar: and Katznelson, Ira, Black Men, White Cities (London: Oxford University Press, 1972).Google Scholar

3 Foot, , Immigration and Race in British Politics, pp. 232–5Google Scholar; Katznelson, , Black Men, White Cities, pp. 131–2.Google Scholar

4 Deakin, , ‘Politics of the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill’, especially pp. 43–4.Google Scholar

5 Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, p. 228.Google Scholar

6 Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, pp. 511–49.Google Scholar

7 Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, p. 624.Google Scholar

8 Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, pp. 606–7.Google Scholar

9 See Foot, , Immigration and Race in British Politics, pp. 134, 219–20Google Scholar; Deakin, , Colour, Citizenship and British Society, p. 138Google Scholar; and Deakin, , ‘Politics of the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill’, pp. 44–5.Google Scholar

10 See Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, p. 228Google Scholar; Deakin, , Colour, Citizenship and British Society, pp. 94,143Google Scholar; Deakin, , ‘Politics of the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill’, pp. 39, 44.Google Scholar

11 Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, pp. 592–603.Google Scholar

13 There is always the possibility, of course, that the aggregate figures on public opinion are stable while a lot of mutually balancing switches are taking place on the individual level. Panel data would be necessary to test this proposition.

14 See Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, p. 618Google Scholar, and Deakin, , Colour, Citizenship and British Society, p. 143Google Scholar, for the consequences of framing questions about the relationship of coloured newcomers to the host society in terms of ‘immigration’ rather than ‘race relations’.

15 On Suez, see Epstein, Leon D., British Politics in the Suez Crisis (London: Pall Mall Press, 1964), pp. 142–9;Google Scholar on the Common Market, see Lieber, Robert J., British Politics and European Unity (London: University of California Press, 1970), pp. 229–32Google Scholar, and Kitzinger, Uwe, Diplomacy and Persuasion (London: Thames and Hudson, 1973), pp. 366–70.Google Scholar

16 Rose, et al. , Colour and Citizenship, pp. 596–7.Google Scholar

17 It was not Powell but Sir Alec Douglas-Home who first suggested voluntary repatriation of immigrants, in a speech at Hampstead on 3 February 1965. The Conservatives adopted repatriation as party policy at their party conference in October 1965, without subsequently stressing it. See James, , Ambitions and Realities, p. 181.Google Scholar In an obvious gesture toward the Powellite constituency, the Conservative Government incorporated a minor repatriation provision in the Immigration Bill of 1971.

18 See Beer, Samuel H., Modern British Politics (London: Faber and Faber, 1965), pp. 96–7, 101–2, 245–6Google Scholar; and Mckenzie, Robert T., British Political Parties, 2nd ed. (London: Heineman, 1964), p. 646.Google Scholar The exceptional exponent of populistic Conservatism was, of course, Joseph Chamberlain, who began his career in the Liberal Party. See Mckenzie, , British Political Parties, p. 7.Google Scholar

19 See McKenzie, British Political Parties, Chap. 2, on the traditional Conservative method of leadership selection. In 1965 the procedure was amended to provide for the formal election of the leader by the Parliamentary party. There is no reason to think, however, that the informal criteria have changed.

20 The conclusion that Powell speaks for the British public on the immigration issue is also reached by Hiro, Dilip, Black British, White British (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1971), p. 321.Google Scholar

21 GallupPolitical Index, No. 97 (05 1968), p. 52.Google Scholar

22 The second of these hypotheses has been put forward by Field, Jack, ‘Race Relations and the Polls’, Race Today, I (1969), p. 38.Google Scholar

23 NOP Bulletin (September 1968), pp. 4, 7–9.

24 Franklin, Mark N. and Inglehart, Ronald, ‘The British Electorate and Enoch Powell: Dimensions in the Evaluation of a Political Personality’, unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar

25 For further evidence on this point, see Franklin, and Inglehart, , ‘The British Electorate and Enoch Powell: Dimensions in the Evaluation of a Political Personality’, pp. 19–21.Google Scholar

26 NOP Bulletin (May 1968), p. 10.