In Source E it shows Ugandan Asians being expelled from Uganda due to political persecution, this met the guidelines of immigration after the revised Alien Order of 1920. In the revised Alien order of 1920 it states that aliens had to have a work permit to work, the Polish fighters might have had these to work in Britain. To this day work permits are still used, for example in football an ‘alien’ player must play a certain percentage of games for them not to be released on free transfer. In the 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act it declares that the Government can choose which people can enter, this is still used today, for example when the NHS chooses doctors to immigrate from around the world. This shows tolerance by as well showing that limitations were put on the amount of immigrants.
In Source G a conservative minister at the time, Enoch Powell said that if the abolishment of immigration wasn’t agreed it would be like’ throwing a match on this gunpowder’. The public also showed intolerance to black immigrants, for example racial abuse at football matches and also huge violence in Brixton in the 1980’s and Notting Hill in 1958. In the 1990’s intolerance still occurred, for example the brutal murder of Stephen Lawrence a young black boy, the case was described as being ‘racist’. Also many racist groups were formed and are successful today, for example the BNP won its highest level of seats in the 2002 by-elections in Burnley and Oldham. According to the census of 1991 the number of white men holding corporate management jobs was more than double the Pakistani and Caribbean equivalent. So, overall this example agrees with Holmes’ statement.
Although the public did show more tolerance to racism, a number of incidents and campaigns are still occurring. In sport the scheme named ‘Give Racism the red Card’ has been advertised because of the distinct reduction of black footballers in the game in the 1990’s. Also the success of black sports personalities have made the public more tolerant of immigrants. In politics anti-racism schemes have occurred, these schemes have been set up by councils, for example Police forces have been set out to stop racism and another example is the success of black Politicians including MPs from the Caribbean and Asia.
The Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1962 restricted the immigration of black or coloured immigrants from the New Commonwealth. Politicians at this time for example Bruce Paice the Head of Immigration would have supported this law. He said that the country was ‘in favour of the British Empire as long as it stayed where it was’. In the Political Debate started in 1948 where they saw the social problems with coloured immigrants, this lead to the Act of 1962. Although this law was passed in 1962 TV shows still showed intolerance towards migrants. For example ‘Till Death do us part’, which showed Alf Garnett relentless racist comments made towards blacks, Jews and political parties.
Although the question states that Britain is at harmony with immigrants and immigration in the views of others, the truth may be that we are not. For example the recent riots in Oldham and Burnley in the summer of 2001. To summarise, there is insufficient evidence that there is tolerance towards immigration in Britain when the book was published. However, countries around the world may have believed that Britain was tolerant. Therefore we do not know if the quote is correct or just one man’s opinion.
