BBC under fire over Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' programme
The BBC is to air a complete recreation of Enoch Powell’s infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech to mark its 50th anniversary.
Star Wars actor Ian McDiarmid will recite the speech for a BBC Radio 4 special to mark half a century on from Powell's warning about the effects of mass immigration.
Mr Powell was the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West for 24 years and rose to notoriety on the back of the speech, which led to his sacking from the shadow cabinet.
The BBC show, which airs on Saturday, will mark the first time ever the speech will be read out in full on UK radio.
It features University of Wolverhampton academic Shirin Hirsch, who refused to attend an Express & Star debate on the speech earlier this year over fears that it could inflame feelings around Mr Powell.
The BBC’s decision to recreate the speech has drawn criticism from some politicians.
Labour peer Andrew Adonis called the speech 'the worst incitement to racial violence by a public figure in modern Britain' and said it should not be broadcast.
He has written to the head of Ofcom demanding that the watchdog blocks the BBC from airing the show.
The BBC says the speech will be broken up and discussed by a range of talking heads throughout the programme.
The BBC said in a statement: “This is a rigorous journalistic analysis of a historical political speech.
“It’s not an endorsement of the controversial views and people should wait to hear the programme before they judge it.”
Mr Powell divided the nation with his speech, which was delivered to a small group of local Tory party members at the Midland Hotel in Birmingham.
In it he described the Government's immigration policy as 'mad', and called for a reduction in the number of arrivals and a policy to encourage those already in the UK to return to their country of origin.
The speech ended with a reference to Virgil’s Aeneid, when a prophetess predicts civil war in Italy with 'the river Tiber foaming with much blood'.
Later this year Wolverhampton's Civic and Historical Society is set to consider whether the city should unveil a blue plaque for Mr Powell.
Mr McDiarmid has previously portrayed Powell in the stage play What Shadows.
