Why is it such a problem for any Tory politician to praise Enoch Powell? Dan Hannan has praised Enoch Powell for being

somebody who understood the importance of national democracy, who understood why you need to live in an independent country and what that meant, as well as being a free marketeer and a small government Conservative.

No mention of his “Rivers of Blood” speech (in which he never actually said those words) or his incorrect views on immigration. And in any case, Powell certainly wasn’t racist.

The Left have turned Powell into some kind of bogeyman, as if all he did was make that one speech. He was a massively accomplished politician – far more intelligent and knowledgeable than any of those Lefties who have probably never read a single word of his work or paid the blindest bit of anything beyond their own preconceptions.

It is only morons like Alex Smith at LabourList and Sunny at Liberal Conspiracy who don’t seem to understand that Enoch Powell is more than the 2-dimensional caricature that they strive to make him into. Do some reading for crying out loud or STFU.