Britain's most racist election, 50 years on (Smethwick 1964)

[RogueBeaver]

Grauniad in depth.

[stepney]

I would love to see one shred of proof, one actual leaflet, that states "If you want a n****r for a neighbour, etc". We have Wislon calling Griffiths a parliamentary leper in the Commons, but that strikes me more as the great Wislon narked that his Foreign Sec had lost his seat.

It must be pointed out that Griffiths was a councillor and leader of the opposition in Smethwick, until the Tories actually took control of Smethwick well against the tide in 1962 or 1963. No one kicked up a stink then. Griffiths was clearly playing the populist card and it plainly worked (hint to anyone snidely commenting about UKIP in 'Labour towns' like Heywood today; populism can be popular, however much you might sneer) but I have never seen the first hint of the window bills that were meant to have gone up.

Griffiths further didn't seem to be a radical in his reincarnation as member for Portsmouth North but instead just a typical dull-headed backwoodsman.

The best evidence of race-baiting campaigning I've ever seen is this:



which was not put out at Smethwick, and which anyway would not have gone out in 1964; the Tories had been in office for 13 years, so the "The Conservatives, once in office....." does not fit, and "burdened" is not spelled with an 'o'. My feeling is it's a forgery.

It's also worth remembering Labour lost the neighbouring Perry Barr to us in 1964, yet no-one harps on about Wyndham Davies. There were very low, sometimes negative, swings to Labour across the West Midlands in 1964 (compensated by exceptionally high swings to Labour there in 1966) - in many ways the mirror of Liverpool, which swung heavily to Labour in 1964 and seemingly had no swing left to give in 1966.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's uncertain whether there actually were leaflets or window bills (the former has always struck me as a later embellishment given the way elections were fought in the area at the time; the latter is plausible, but, yes, there is no hard evidence), but it's absolutely certain that 'if you want a n neighbour, vote Labour' was an election chant used in Smethwick in the mid 1960s. Absolutely certain because on a previous occasion (the 1962 or 1963 municipal elections) Griffiths had denied responsibility for it, and claimed (quite disingenuously) that it was spontaneously created by local children - the tradition in the West Midlands was to use children to spread slurs against opposing candidates; it was effective, cheap, left no paper trail and every party did it - who were, in turn, merely reflecting the understandable views of their parents. People can draw their own conclusions.

Still, it's important to remember that what happened in Smethwick in 1964 was hardly atypical. The backlash against immigration in the West Midlands was extremely strong (stronger than anywhere else in the country; I wonder whether part of the issue was that it was happening at the same time as the giant redevelopment and slum clearance projects of the era, which were pursued with greater enthusiasm in Birmingham and surrounds than just about anywhere south of Newcastle) and it generally took the form of overt racism. It was a problem even in local Unions (and on this point much worse in the Black Country, for whatever reason, than in Birmingham), to say nothing of the more obvious suspects in the local press. Politically, Labour was the least racist party in the area but was hardly racism-free (c.f. Harry Watton, the Daleyesque leader of Birmingham City Council in the early 60s, mentioned at a public forum that he had once spoken to the Jamaican Prime Minister and told him that he did not want any Jamaicans in his city) meaning that there's nothing to crow about. Birmingham Labour made no serious attempt to seek the votes of the (overwhelmingly working class and often unionised) new immigrants until about 1967 or so. The issues with the Tories are well known (and not just because of Griffiths), but I've always thought it odd that no one seems to remember that the Liberal revival in parts of the area was firmly anchored to white-backlash politics. If history has been unfair to Peter Griffiths and the Smethwick Tories, it's because it's largely forgotten Wallace Lawler and the Ladywood Liberals...

[stepney]

It's uncertain whether there actually were leaflets or window bills (the former has always struck me as a later embellishment given the way elections were fought in the area at the time; the latter is plausible, but, yes, there is no hard evidence), but it's absolutely certain that 'if you want a n neighbour, vote Labour' was an election chant used in Smethwick in the mid 1960s. Absolutely certain because on a previous occasion (the 1962 or 1963 municipal elections) Griffiths had denied responsibility for it, and claimed (quite disingenuously) that it was spontaneously created by local children - the tradition in the West Midlands was to use children to spread slurs against opposing candidates; it was effective, cheap, left no paper trail and every party did it - who were, in turn, merely reflecting the understandable views of their parents. People can draw their own conclusions.

Still, it's important to remember that what happened in Smethwick in 1964 was hardly atypical. The backlash against immigration in the West Midlands was extremely strong (stronger than anywhere else in the country; I wonder whether part of the issue was that it was happening at the same time as the giant redevelopment and slum clearance projects of the era, which were pursued with greater enthusiasm in Birmingham and surrounds than just about anywhere south of Newcastle) and it generally took the form of overt racism. It was a problem even in local Unions (and on this point much worse in the Black Country, for whatever reason, than in Birmingham), to say nothing of the more obvious suspects in the local press. Politically, Labour was the least racist party in the area but was hardly racism-free (c.f. Harry Watton, the Daleyesque leader of Birmingham City Council in the early 60s, mentioned at a public forum that he had once spoken to the Jamaican Prime Minister and told him that he did not want any Jamaicans in his city) meaning that there's nothing to crow about. Birmingham Labour made no serious attempt to seek the votes of the (overwhelmingly working class and often unionised) new immigrants until about 1967 or so. The issues with the Tories are well known (and not just because of Griffiths), but I've always thought it odd that no one seems to remember that the Liberal revival in parts of the area was firmly anchored to white-backlash politics. If history has been unfair to Peter Griffiths and the Smethwick Tories, it's because it's largely forgotten Wallace Lawler and the Ladywood Liberals...

Again, Al - I don't doubt your knowledge as a historian - but where is the evidence? A newspaper clipping from the gloriously named Smethwick Telephone would put me in my place.

It's also worth remembering however hysterical either side got about immigration on the one side, or "racialism" on the other, the numbers of immigrants we are talking about is a couple of Smethwick streets-worth at the best.

Concur entirely about the amusing, populist, boss-led almost Americanised politics of Brummagem in that era. Lawler wasn't called "Guv'nor Wallace of Birmingham" - most often it seems by Hain's Young Liberals - for nowt.

[Dr. Cynic]

After Andrew Faulds knocked Griffiths out of the House (unfortunately not permanently), he devoted his maiden speech to taking some serious shots at him. That's the only positive legacy Peter Griffiths left.