Summary/Abstract |
when my father was advising Enoch Powell on how to gain maximum press and television coverage for his speeches, he could scarcely have imagined that decades later two equally resourceful politicians, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, would similarly break new ground in their manipulation of the news media when exploiting fears over uncontrolled immigration. In the 1950s, the newly‐elected Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, and Clement Jones, a journalist on the Wolverhampton Express and Star, were both on a fast track to promotion—Powell to become a Cabinet minister, and my father to the editor's chair of his local evening newspaper. The 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech triggered a traumatic episode for the Jones household, the end of a close family friendship; a moment of great sadness for my mother; and a damaging blow to my father's career.
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