Enoch Powell: Britain’s First Neoliberal Politician

Robbie Shilliam

New Political Economy, 2021, vol. 26, issue 2, 239-249

Abstract: Enoch Powell was not only Britain’s best known racist, he was also its first neoliberal politician. By making this provocative claim, I wish to consider political and intellectual departure points that might provide a more adequate account of the contemporary relationship between racist populism and the neoliberal project. This relationship might be seen as paradoxical. However, I suggest that racist populism should be apprehended as, formatively, a neoliberal project. Towards this aim, I make a heuristic distinction between neoliberal politicians, neoliberal economists, and neoliberal ideologues. I argue that the political force required to instantiate and defend the neoliberal project – especially in times of crisis – requires us to engage with chronologies, issues and actors which we might not foreground so instinctively if we dwell only upon neoliberal economists and ideologues. Overall, I claim that taking Powellism as a departure point certainly renders the current crisis political, but not necessarily epistemological, i.e. a crisis of interpretation.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2020.1841140

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