British Labour's Spending Spree

An unfamiliar witness to British politics would scarcely notice if a current politician pays homage to another by describing him as someone who “understood the importance of national democracy, who understood why you need to live in an independent country and what that meant, as well as being a free marketer and a small-government Conservative.” Yet when Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan made such a statement in an interview back on August 23rd with Reason TV, he touched the third rail of British politics that is Enoch Powell, the late Conservative MP commonly identified for his controversial and polarizing views on immigration, and by extension, race relations and a multicultural Britain. The Conservative Party disavowed Powell after his famous Birmingham speech in 1968 and continues to do so now for those members who profess Powellite views on immigration, such as then-potential Conservative Party candidate Neil Hatislow in 2007.