50 years ago today the Commonwealth Immigration Act became law. Pushed through Parliament by a Labour govt in 3 days, it was probably the most racist piece of legislation of postwar years, whose sole aim was to prevent Kenyan Asians with British passports from entering Britain.
Richard Crossman recorded in his diaries of the special cabinet meeting in which the bill was discussed: ‘[Home Secretary] Jim [Callaghan] arrived with the air of a man whose mind was made up. He wasn't going to tolerate any of this bloody liberalism.’ 2/
The cabinet secretary Burke Trend wrote, making clear the racist reasons for the law, ‘a reasonable case could be put up in reply to international criticism on the ground that the Asian community in East Africa are not nationals of this country in any racial sense’.
The Times commented: ‘The Labour Party has a new ideology. It does not any longer profess to believe in the equality of Man. It does not even believe in the equality of British citizens. It believes in the equality of white British citizens.’ 4/
Tory MP Ian Gilmour was later to say, ’That was why the bill was brought in - to keep the blacks out. If it had been the case that it was 5,000 white settlers who were coming in, the newspapers and politicians who were making all the fuss would have been quite pleased.’ 5/
Seven weeks later Enoch Powell delivered his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. 6/
