World: The Phenomenon of Powellism

I REGARD the politician as a prophet in the Hebrew sense—not the man who prophesies the future but that man who speaks out what is in the hearts of his people." The words are those of Enoch Powell, and he is talking about himself. In less than a year Powell, the Conservative M.P. who looks like a tensed-up Terry-Thomas and sprinkles his speeches with allusions to classical history, has emerged as his own kind of politician-prophet. In the process, he has stirred a furor both in Britain and abroad. For what Powell sees—and speaks...