Shropshire Enoch Powell display investigated as hate incident

A shop display showing an image of Enoch Powell next to a copy of his 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech is being investigated by police.

The framed picture of the former Conservative MP was displayed in the window of ironmongers Mumfords in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire.

Shop owner Elizabeth Griffiths has defended her actions, saying it was one small part of a larger collection of images, including Sir Winston Churchill, depicting “a need for strong leadership”.

“I have had it in there for three and a half months, and the response has been always positive – no negativity at all until this week,” said the Reform campaigner, who has now removed it.

Powell’s anti-immigration speech, delivered by the then Wolverhampton South West MP, caused a national controversy, prompting his sacking from Edward Heath’s shadow cabinet.

West Mercia Police said enquiries were ongoing after they had received a report of “offensive content displayed in a shop window on Church Street”.

The complaint had “obviously” come from “political enemies” after she had financed a campaign for two successful Reform candidates at the recent local elections, Ms Griffiths claimed.

“Rest assured, since then, I’ve had knives in my back from left, right and centre,” she said.

Earlier in the week, she added an image of Sir Keir Starmer next to Powell’s picture linking the prime minister’s recent language around immigration to the Powell speech.

The text of the 1968 speech, delivered at a Conservative Association meeting in Birmingham, he said, included observations on immigrants taken from his Wolverhampton constituents.

“If I had the money to go, I wouldn’t stay in this country,” the MP claimed he had been told.

“In this country in 15 or 20 years’ time, the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.”

Powell added: “As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding: like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.”

The then Conservative Party leader Heath sacked him from the front bench, and he was widely denounced.

Ms Griffiths said she had received support from her community, saying many thought it applied to the “present day”.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: “On 16 May, we received a report of offensive content displayed in a shop window on Church Street in Cleobury Mortimer.

“This is being treated as a hate incident, and inquiries are ongoing.”