'Britain's Racist Election' Showed 1964 General Election Isn't That Dissimilar To 2015's

C4 Doco Just Reminded Everyone How Terrifyingly Racist We Can Be

'Britain's Racist Election' aired on Channel 4 on Sunday night highlighting how race relations in the run up to the 1964 general election were so toxic that Birmingham saw the formation of the UK's first branch of the KKK.

After 5,000 immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean moved to the West Midlands in the mid-sixties, politicians latched on to a growing sense of resentment.

In an indication of just how vitriolic the campaign was, one Tory poster declared:

And it wasn't just limited to the Smethwick area.

The documentary aired as Britain approaches another general election characterised by intense debate on immigration.

Yet reaction to the documentary suggests we have forgotten how such sentiments lead to violence on the streets just 50 years ago and only 20 years after the defeat of Nazism.

And the modern-day equivalent of Tory MP Peter Griffiths was left in little doubt.

Today's Conservatives didn't get away with it either.

And many contrasted immigrants coming to the UK with past British colonial behaviour.

The similarities between 1964 and 2014 were clear.

But the irony of Channel 4's current scheduling didn't go amiss either....

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