Mrs T and immigration
Sir: Amidst all the hate and abuse from the Socialists, I am trying to recall what frightful measures the Conservatives leader said her party might introduce.
Did she propose that a time limit should be set for all Commonwealth immigrants on pain of death to leave this country? Did she suggest that the Tories might resort to the Book of Exodus and fling all male children into the rivers, having first slipped in a few crocodiles of course? I did not hear any mention of compulsory sterilisation.
All I can recall was a perfectly sane and quite compassionate supposition that if more and more immigrants came into this tiny and highly populated country fears might rise amongst the indigenous population of being swamped, and good race relations put in danger. This was a perfectly correct answer for a politician to give to the question asked.
The frightening thing about the whole incident is that from it has emerged the fact that in Britain there is now a 'forbidden' subject. To any questions about it the reply must conform to the code agreed upon in a bipartisan huddle. Anyone who breaks the taboo will be vilified and viciOusly misrepresented as a 'racialist' by the Socialists of the House of Commons, and the media.
The Socialists are accusing Mrs Thatcher of making immigration an election issue and although she says she has no wish to do so, in a democracy how can such a controversial topic not become one? Surely even the Labour Party, with their strange ideas of democracy, cannot think that the opinions of the people on the subject should be utterly ignored! How can these opinions be sounded, except by a referendum on the ballot box?
Do the Labour Party so insult the British people that they think they would opt for the brutalmeasures advocated by the National Front? Whether Mrs Thatcher is trying to win votes or not, it is quite certain by their howls of hate and anger that they are fearful of losing them.
J. M. Warton
. 3 Stainton Road,
Sheffield
Previous page
