Boris and Enoch

I have been reading Heffer's biography of Enoch Powell and am struck by the parallels between the reactions to Powell's 'Rivers of blood" speech and Boris on face veils. The similarities in reaction but also the similarities and differences between the two men.
   Powell was of English and Welsh parentage. He was a most patriotic and outspoken Englishman. Boris Johnson has described himself as a "one-man melting pot" – with a combination of Muslims, Jews, and Christians as great-grandparents.
   Enoch the son of primary teachers, was a grammar school pupil, a double first and Cambridge in classics and a professor of Greek in Australia at 25. He resigned his chair to enlist as a private in the army at the start of WWII being one of only two men to rise through the ranks to become a brigadier during the war. Demobbed he entered politics. 
   Boris won a scholarship to Eton and took an upper second in classics at Oxford. He became a journalist before entering politics. Enoch rose to be minister of health under Macmillan, resigned when Home was appointed prime minister and then shadow Defence minister when Heath led the opposition to labour. Enoch was always known as a man of the right, strongly critical of his own party's compromises with socialism. He was Thatcherite before Thatcher. He wanted nationalised industries returned to the private sector and lower taxation, less of the state and more freedom for private enterprise. On social issues he was surprisingly liberal like decriminalisation homosexual acts and the abolition of capital punishment. He was a faithful husband with two children. Boris is twice married, not known for fidelity and the father of five children. Enoch went from atheist to strong Anglican. Boris's Anglicanism seems no more than nominal.
   Enoch was generally seen as the most intellects on parliamentarians in his time. Others saw him as austere - a view not shared by his children. Boris is judged a clever man who likes to play the buffoon. He resigned as foreign secretary. At first not clearly for Brexit he now seems strongly against the EU. Powell opposed entry into the then Common Market.
   Powell's famous speech was made because he saw that uncontrolled new Commonwealth immigration was leading to a change in the make up of the country. Areas that had been English were losing their white population. Most immigrants would not be assimilated. The majority population had been taken unawares and did not want more immigration. He favoured a ban on further immigration and voluntary repatriation. He was accused of racism even by Heath. Enoch believed in the equality of all before the law. He opposed the introduction of large immigrant communities whether black or white. He was shunned by the leadership of his own party but had widespread popular support from across the political spectrum. Ordinary people agreed with what he had said. But the establishment, most political leaders and the media were all against him. Students in particular demonstrated and acted to stop him speaking in public. University authorise were more concerned for public order and their property than for the liberty of free speech. Powell was seen as a trouble maker by his own party. he had spoken outside his own brief of defence. He was seen as a challenger for Heath's leadership though he expressed no intention of standing as leader. he made no plot against heath. he was hugely popular but hated and maligned by his opponents. He was a very principled man who on economic and other issues wanted the Conservatives to move to the right.
   Boris on the other hand seems to me to have only one principle, the advancement of Boris. he is known as strongly for Brexit but on what other issues is he to the right?he is seen as islamophobic, anti-Muslim but on what grounds. he would not bad full views. he mocks them but apart from sallafist Muslims who wants full face veils? Most Muslims do not. Other politicians and prominent media people have condemned the without being pilloried as Boris has. Perhaps Boris is bidding for party leadership . Who knows. But he is not anti-Muslim. He would give them liberty. There are calls for his censure by his own party. There were calls for Enoch to be prosecuted under race relations law but the attorney general refused. Boris has popular support though not on the scale of Enoch. Both men have said what is the popular opinion on a controversial topic and been condemned by establishment and media. 
  But Boris is small fry compared with Enoch. Enoch's weakness was his people skills. He was the Doc Martin of his day. He preferred principle to party conformity. He was popular with the masses, reviled by the elite. Boris has a lot of popular support for his words on the full veil but will never achieve any ambition of party leadership. Enoch was a political giant. Boris is a pygmy by comparison. Personally I would love to see Boris out of politics and back starring on Have I Got News for You. That is his real element. Both men had  party leaders who were not real conservatives. Heath came to an ignominious end. I have no great hopes for May. Heath took on the miners and lost. He was a man of the centre. May is no better. Both  made catastrophic misjudgments of the electorate.