Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop on the First Great Immigration Row


Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop on the First Great Immigration Row

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In the early hours of the morning on Tuesday 2nd January, 1906,

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a boat approached British shores with an unusual cargo.

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Aboard were ten American sailors,

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who'd just been saved from death on a shipwreck.

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Three weeks earlier, out in the Atlantic,

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a gale had punched a hole in their ship, which had begun to sink.

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The desperate crew huddled together on the roof of the cabin.

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After five agonising days, finally a British vessel appeared.

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They were saved!

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The sailors were now approaching Southampton,

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where they hoped to board another ship home.

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But first, they had to meet the British authorities.

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The crew were questioned, refused entry

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and, incredibly, ordered back out to sea.

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Why? Because the shipwrecked sailors were, officially,

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destitute alien immigrants.

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The unlucky sailors had arrived

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just one day after modern Britain had introduced

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its first peacetime restrictions on immigration.

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Before that, in the Victorian era,

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the welcome we gave to so-called aliens

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was a huge source of national pride.

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But, in the early 20th century, things changed.

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For the first time, Britain had to face up to the question

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that has haunted its politics ever since -

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who do we let in and who do we keep out?

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-NEWS REPORT:

-50,000 Bulgarian and Romanian migrants

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could come every year...

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Today, as Britain heads for Brexit,

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few topics are more divisive than immigration.

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There is no case in the national interest

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for immigration of the scale we have experienced

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over the last decade.

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Immigration can be used as a proxy

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to abuse or intimidate minority communities within our society.

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-THEY CHANT:

-Go home, refugees!

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These individuals from some of these cultures they come from

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are feral humans.

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How long before migrant communities

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have to stop taking that loyalty test?

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To understand how we got where we are,

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we need to go back to the decades

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from the Victorian age to the First World War,

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when many of today's attitudes to immigrants were first formed.

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As Britain again prepares to draw up new rules about its borders,

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I want to find out if looking at this period,

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where immigration first became a toxic issue,

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could help us approach it more clearly.

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We've been here before but can we learn from it?

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The Times newspaper once printed

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a bold declaration of Britain's pride in its open door.

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"Every civilised people on the face of the Earth..."

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"Must be fully aware that this country is the asylum of nations."

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"The asylum of nations."

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-"And it will defend the asylum..."

-"Defend the asylum..."

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"Defend the asylum to the last ounce of its treasure..."

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"And the last drop of its blood."

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"There is no point whatsoever..."

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-"On which we are prouder..."

-"Prouder..."

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When do you think that was written?

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-100 years ago?

-Ooh, '50s.

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1800. 1900?

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-'45.

-50, 60 years ago?

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1853.

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That was a Times leader, a British establishment paper, saying,

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"British values are open doors. That's all there is to it.

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"That's what we do." Do you think that's a good idea?

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Um...

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No, absolutely not.

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If you say you have unlimited amount of people coming in,

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it's not going to work.

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Let them come, if they've got war, famine or whatnot.

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It's probably not sustainable.

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I think a lot of people would probably have a problem with it.

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Today, few appear to believe

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that Britain should welcome literally anyone.

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But in the mid-19th century,

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this was not the viewpoint of an idealistic fringe.

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It was mainstream opinion.

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In fact, the "open door" was at the heart of British identity.

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It was felt that we had a duty to accept anyone to these shores,

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with no passport, no visa, no letter of introduction,

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just a metaphorical handshake and the confident assumption

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that the newcomer would, in due course, contribute

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to the greatness of Great Britain.

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It was such an important part of Britain's self-image

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in the Victorian period,

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that it was open to anyone.

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Of course, why wouldn't anyone want to come here?

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We were by far the greatest culture and civilisation

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the world had ever seen.

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-Do you think the Victorians saw this as a moral point?

-Very much so.

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They'd just abolished slavery,

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they'd just emancipated Catholics and Jews.

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They saw themselves as the leaders of the free world,

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not just the imperial power in the world.

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So, it was simultaneously an act of moral leadership

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and a statement of pride.

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The Victorians made no distinction between asylum seekers

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and economic migrants coming here for work and a better life.

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And they would go to extraordinary lengths

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to keep their door open to everyone,

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even if that meant harbouring a terrorist.

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Born in France in 1817,

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Simon Bernard was a revolutionary socialist.

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Known for his ability to fanaticise the masses,

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Bernard was wanted by the French authorities.

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So, in 1851,

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he took advantage of the Victorians' proudly open door

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-and legged it to England.

-Hmm.

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BIG BEN CHIMES

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For seven years, Bernard made his home in London.

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His neighbours, here on Park Street,

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knew him as that nice man who gives French lessons.

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But all that time, the quiet teacher had a dark secret.

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EXPLOSION

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On 14th January, 1858, three terrorist bombs went off in Paris.

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Their target, the Emperor of France, survived,

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but eight bystanders were killed.

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What would have shocked the good people of Park Street

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was to discover that the bombs used in the attack had been supplied

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by that nice Dr Bernard, who kept himself to himself,

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from right here at number 10.

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The French blamed the murderous act

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on Britain's lack of immigration controls,

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which had allowed terrorists to enter freely

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and set up, in the words of one French politician,

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"Laboratories of assassination".

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Bernard was arrested, charged with being an accessory to murder

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and sent for trial at the Old Bailey.

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73 witnesses gave evidence against him

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and Bernard did not even deny the charges.

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It looked like it was all over, but his lawyer had an audacious plan.

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He decided to recast the whole trial

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as an attack on the great British open door.

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For centuries, our shores have been open

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and the protection of our strong arm has been extended

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to those whom the operation of political and religious persecution

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have driven from their native soil.

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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He argued that Bernard wasn't a criminal but a victim,

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oppressed by the tyrannical French.

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He had taken up Britain's offer of welcome to all.

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And that meant the nation had a duty to protect him.

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After just two hours,

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the jury returned to the packed courtroom to deliver its verdict.

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Simon Bernard walked free.

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This was extraordinary.

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Bernard had been banged to rights

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but it's a measure of that open Victorian attitude to immigration

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that Bernard left the court

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with the cheers of the crowd ringing in his ears.

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Setting free a terrorist to display

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your commitment to open borders sounds a little crazy.

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Nowadays, many of those proud of British liberal values

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have come to accept that defending them should not come at any cost.

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One reason for that is that the numbers are very different.

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Recent figures show that, in 2015,

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there were almost nine million foreign-born people in the UK,

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or more than one in eight of the population.

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Back in 1851, in England, Scotland and Wales,

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there were just over 60,000,

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less than one in every 300 people.

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By the start of the 20th century,

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the foreign-born figure had risen fivefold,

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but that was still less than 1% of the total population.

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In certain urban areas, however, the proportion was much higher.

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This is a map of Jewish settlement in the East End,

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-which comes from 1899.

-Huh.

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And the very darkest blue, you've got 95 to 100% Jewish.

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95% Jews.

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Yeah, 95 to 100% Jews.

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VOICEOVER: Historian David Rosenberg's great-grandparents

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were among roughly 100,000 Jewish immigrants who came to Britain

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in the late 19th century.

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We're just in Princelet Street, just over here.

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Portrayed like this, it does suddenly seem like,

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"Look, there's an enormous bit of the East End

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-"that has suddenly become Jewish."

-Yeah.

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Fleeing persecution and poverty in Eastern Europe,

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the Jewish arrivals quickly set up communities in British cities.

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And when they arrived, what did people make of them?

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Well, they had many complaints about the Jews.

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They felt the area was becoming extremely overcrowded.

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But if the Jews came here and they got on with their own work

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and they didn't disturb anyone else, why were people upset with them?

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OK, because the workers who were already here were worried

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that a new lot of people coming in in large numbers,

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who are willing to work very long hours at low rates of pay...

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And that's presumably true.

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Well, it was, um, partly, but also, it wasn't,

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in the sense that the sweated industries had already started

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in the East End before the Jews got here,

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and they greatly expanded that.

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But presumably they were slightly undercutting wages...

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Well, they were...

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..just by the numbers of them arriving, looking for work.

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-Yeah, I mean, in that sense, it was an employer's dream.

-Yeah.

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Because if there were people in the workshops

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complaining that their wages were not high enough,

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they would say, "Well, go away. I can find some other people."

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-Yeah, another boat coming.

-Yeah.

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The concerns about cheap labour intensified anxiety

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over fast-changing neighbourhoods.

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Initially, these tensions were limited

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to small pockets of inner cities.

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But, in 1900, the East End elected an MP

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who was determined to make immigrants a national issue.

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Sir William Evans-Gordon made his name in India as a British officer.

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Handsome and energetic,

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he'd once crossed two passes of the Himalayas in less than 18 hours.

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In 1900, he became the Conservative MP

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for white working-class Stepney in the East End,

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and he wasted no time making his views known on immigrants.

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Evans-Gordon laid out the charges against the newcomers.

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They threatened communities.

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Not a day passes, but English families are ruthlessly turned out

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to make room for foreign invaders.

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They overwhelm resources.

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The rates are burdened with the education

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of thousands of foreign children.

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And he warned, "A storm is brewing which,

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"if it is allowed to burst, will have deplorable results."

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It's the sort of doom-laden imagery

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with which, since, we've become all too familiar.

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The reality is that, at that time,

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people were pouring OUT of Britain, not pouring INTO it.

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But there was a sensation created,

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which scheming politicians could jump on,

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that we were under an alien invasion.

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This, of course, is when HG Wells wrote The War Of The Worlds.

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This is when Bram Stoker wrote Dracula which, of course,

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is about a blood-sucking migrant from Eastern Europe,

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-preying on innocent British workers.

-And women.

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And women, of course, yeah.

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And what Evans-Gordon was able to bring

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to that inchoate feeling of insecurity about this,

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was a tremendous sense of high society, respectability,

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that this was an honourable thing to think.

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It was not racist to dislike those Jews.

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Evans-Gordon argued, in a book of 1903,

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the Jews not only undermined communities,

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they couldn't really be trusted.

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"I wish to make it perfectly clear that I direct

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"no hostile criticism against the Jews as a people.

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"But..." And there's always a "but".

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"But they are necessarily a race apart.

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"By pride in their traditions, their ideals

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"and the mission of their race, they are Jews before all things

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"and their first loyalty is to Israel."

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But how true were Evans-Gordon's claims about disloyalty?

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So, if we come here, this is the foundation plaque

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for the New Road Synagogue, that was consecrated on May 24th, 1892.

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"Her Majesty's birthday.

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"A letter was addressed to the Queen, on behalf of the members,

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"expressing their respectful felicitations,

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"acknowledging their loyalty to Her Majesty."

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They're actually carving themselves in.

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This is a very trad-looking stone

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and "VR", Victoria Regina, is above the name of the synagogue.

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A royal crest was obviously there.

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Look, you can see the outline of the lion and the unicorn.

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That was really in your face.

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Actually, I think it's quite clever because it is a reminder

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to all the people who are trying to deprive them

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of those civil liberties and those religious liberties

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and saying, "We don't want Jews here."

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They're saying, "No, underneath YOUR Queen,

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"who we are celebrating here, we are allowed to be here."

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But the immigrants' argument cut little ice with Evans-Gordon.

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He now decided the time was right

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to turn local hostility into organised opposition.

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This rather austere poster is attempting to drum up business

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for a great public demonstration,

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and the burning issue of the day, "Destitute foreigners".

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There are going to be Members of Parliament there,

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borough councillors,

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"all shades of politics, Ministers of religion of all denominations".

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This is a real attempt to make this

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a representative, mainstream meeting.

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But who's in the chair?

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Well, it says, "The chair will be taken at eight PM sharp..." -

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no messing about - "..by Major Evans-Gordon, MP."

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The rally was organised by a new grassroots movement,

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spearheaded by Evans-Gordon - the British Brothers' League.

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They were a movement dedicated to the proposition

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that Britain was best, Britain was for the British.

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They were the first right-wing, popular, protest,

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marching, bully-boy gang.

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-Somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 are crammed into this huge hall.

-Mm.

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They've got placards and Union Jacks, banners saying,

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"British jobs for British workers, British homes for British people."

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And was there anything in it? I mean, were they losing housing?

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That was the narrative that they were led to believe.

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But the counter-narrative, people stress, "Go round the country.

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"There are areas where there's no immigrants and there's low pay

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"and there's bad housing and there's unemployment."

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If your own situation is very bad, economically,

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it's very easy to find enemies and people to blame.

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This long-standing anti-alien agitator in the area,

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when he said, "These people are not coming as refugees,

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"they're coming because they want our money,"

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he was greeted with somebody from the audience

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shouting, "Wipe them out."

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The anxieties about jobs and homes

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that the British Brothers' League fed off are still familiar today.

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Recently, mainstream politicians have been accused

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of making the situation worse by ignoring concerns over immigration.

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In 2004, another group from Eastern Europe -

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not Jews, but migrants from countries joining the EU -

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started arriving here and there were far more of them

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than the Labour government of the day expected.

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I think soon there will be more Polish people here than English.

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One of the key front bench figures and, as Home Secretary,

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the man in charge of Britain's immigration policy,

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was Alan Johnson.

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In 2009, when you were Home Secretary, you said,

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"People think we've shied away from a debate about immigration

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"and they may well be right."

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Why do politicians shy away from talking about it?

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Well, I think there was a reluctance amongst us.

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We couldn't deny that we'd got the figures wrong,

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in terms of the projected numbers that were going to come

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from the Eastern European accession countries in 2004.

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We had egg all over our face. It's best not to talk about it.

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But the right tend to breed

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when people won't address the issues of immigration.

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If everyone says, "Oh, it's embarrassing

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"and if you say anything, it's racist, so we'll keep quiet,"

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the people who don't mind being racist or saying things about it

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then start to move in in force.

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Yes, they do. But I have to say, even when you're talking about it,

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people still accuse you of not talking about it.

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When I was Home Secretary, I spoke about little else.

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We were keen to talk about the points-based system

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that we were introducing, we were keen to talk about the measures

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we were taking - biometric passports, stuff like that.

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All that sounds like blah-di-blah...

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-Cos it's not really the big issue, that's right.

-Yeah.

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The issue, for me, was Eastern European.

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And what was the resentment there?

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"Why are these people coming over here, getting jobs,

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"when 18 to 24-year-olds, in particular, can't find any work?"

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And it seems to be, historically, that is always the cry.

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The Jews move into the East End in the 1890s,

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the workers suddenly say, "There aren't enough houses,

0:19:420:19:45

"they're undercutting our jobs."

0:19:450:19:46

And you get the British Brothers' League

0:19:460:19:49

which is, essentially, the same old far-right movement.

0:19:490:19:53

But here's a funny thing about that.

0:19:530:19:54

Once they become assimilated, once they're going to school...

0:19:540:19:59

By the time I left Notting Hill in 1969,

0:19:590:20:02

we were singing reggae songs and going out, you know...

0:20:020:20:06

We're quite fortunate.

0:20:060:20:08

We've never had this Front National that you see in France,

0:20:080:20:12

these extreme politicians,

0:20:120:20:14

whose whole career has been based on...basically, racism.

0:20:140:20:19

I do like to think that, on some things,

0:20:190:20:22

we can teach other countries about how to integrate.

0:20:220:20:25

Of course, not perfect,

0:20:250:20:27

but I think we've done it better than many other countries.

0:20:270:20:30

A century ago, the integration Alan Johnson values

0:20:330:20:37

was in short supply in parts of Britain's inner cities.

0:20:370:20:40

Rapidly changing neighbourhoods

0:20:410:20:43

meant hostility towards the new arrivals was on the rise.

0:20:430:20:48

Yet, some of the sharpest attacks on immigrants

0:20:480:20:51

came from surprising places.

0:20:510:20:53

This is an election campaign flyer from 1895.

0:20:540:20:58

It was issued on behalf of the Conservative candidate

0:20:580:21:01

for the constituency of Bethnal Green North East in the East End.

0:21:010:21:07

"What's one of the principal causes of increased house rent

0:21:070:21:10

"in East London? Foreign pauper aliens!

0:21:100:21:14

"What's one of the causes of overcrowding

0:21:140:21:16

"and insanitary dwellings?

0:21:160:21:18

"Foreign pauper aliens.

0:21:180:21:20

"Who competes with the boot makers?

0:21:200:21:22

"Foreign pauper aliens." And so it goes on.

0:21:220:21:26

The anti-immigrant message is fairly typical,

0:21:260:21:29

but the name at the bottom is anything but.

0:21:290:21:32

It says, "If you don't want THEM, vote for Bhownagree."

0:21:320:21:37

The anti-immigrant politician is an Indian immigrant.

0:21:370:21:41

Mancherjee Bhownagree was born in Bombay in 1851.

0:21:430:21:49

A dedicated Anglophile, he'd even translated the Scottish diaries

0:21:490:21:53

of Queen Victoria into Gujarati.

0:21:530:21:56

In his 30s, he'd strode through Victorian Britain's open door

0:21:580:22:03

to study law. But, once here,

0:22:030:22:06

Bhownagree didn't exactly welcome his fellow immigrants.

0:22:060:22:09

Bethnal Green is, today,

0:22:160:22:18

home to a population that is around one-third Bangladeshi origin.

0:22:180:22:22

But, in the 1890s, it was solidly white working-class.

0:22:240:22:28

It was here the Indian-born Bhownagree

0:22:300:22:32

threw his hat into the ring, running for the Conservatives.

0:22:320:22:36

At his very first public meeting, Bhownagree was heckled,

0:22:370:22:41

with cries of "Foreigner" and "Alien".

0:22:410:22:43

But he had a bold strategy to win over the East End voters.

0:22:430:22:48

He declared, "Like yourselves, it is my great pride to have been,

0:22:480:22:53

"since birth, a British subject and citizen.

0:22:530:22:57

"I can assure you my whole life and interest has been bound up

0:22:570:23:01

"with the British Empire."

0:23:010:23:03

He was no alien immigrant.

0:23:030:23:06

Like his listeners, he was an English speaker

0:23:060:23:08

and a loyal subject of Her Majesty the Queen.

0:23:080:23:10

For Bhownagree's critics, his proud membership of the Conservatives,

0:23:130:23:16

the party of Empire, wasn't loyalty, but servility.

0:23:160:23:20

They came up with a nickname - "Bhownagree" became "Bow And Agree".

0:23:210:23:27

Oh, what are you doing here?

0:23:270:23:29

Well, we British love to come down to our local for a pint.

0:23:290:23:34

Of course we do.

0:23:340:23:36

Oh, Vanessa, hi.

0:23:360:23:38

-Not yet, but I'm working on it.

-LAUGHTER

0:23:380:23:41

The accusation that immigrants try to become

0:23:410:23:43

more British than the British is a rich source of satire,

0:23:430:23:47

like the Coopers' and Robinsons' excruciating efforts

0:23:470:23:50

to blend in in Goodness Gracious Me.

0:23:500:23:52

-I think he means, "Would you like something to drink?"

-I knew that!

0:23:520:23:57

LAUGHTER

0:23:570:23:59

Meanwhile, the immigrant who takes a tough line on immigration

0:23:590:24:03

is deftly sent up by Adil Ray's creation Citizen Khan.

0:24:030:24:08

Too many bloody immigrants coming to this country!

0:24:080:24:11

LAUGHTER

0:24:110:24:12

-YOU'RE an immigrant, Dad!

-I'm not an immigrant, sweetie.

0:24:120:24:15

I've been here 30 years. Immigrants are the Eastern Europeans!

0:24:150:24:20

Coming over here, taking our jobs - jobs meant for us Pakistanis!

0:24:200:24:24

-LAUGHTER

-Dad!

0:24:240:24:26

In July, 1895, Bethnal Green went to the polls.

0:24:280:24:32

When the 5,000 or so votes had been counted,

0:24:320:24:35

Bhownagree had won with a majority of 160.

0:24:350:24:39

White working-class Bethnal Green had sent

0:24:390:24:43

an Indian immigrant to Westminster.

0:24:430:24:46

There was an Indian MP for this place in 1895.

0:24:470:24:51

He said, "We've had enough immigrants."

0:24:510:24:54

Do you feel that Britain can still take some more?

0:24:540:24:59

Britain can still take more, but quality not quantity.

0:24:590:25:03

Not everybody can come in, but quality, they should.

0:25:030:25:07

Bhownagree was the first Asian Conservative MP in Britain.

0:25:100:25:14

It took another 115 years for a British Asian

0:25:160:25:19

to make it into the Cabinet.

0:25:190:25:21

Yorkshire-born Conservative Baroness Sayeeda Warsi,

0:25:210:25:25

like Bhownagree, believes government should control immigration.

0:25:250:25:29

There are many, many people

0:25:300:25:32

in Britain's migrant communities

0:25:320:25:35

who have very conservative views about immigration.

0:25:350:25:38

They absolutely believe that this is their country,

0:25:380:25:40

this is their nation and that we should have controlled immigration.

0:25:400:25:44

I've yet to meet somebody from black or minority ethnic communities

0:25:440:25:48

who thinks we believe in complete open-door policies.

0:25:480:25:51

A recurring story is the idea that immigrants who are successful

0:25:510:25:55

then start looking down on the next wave of immigration and saying,

0:25:550:25:59

"Well, I think, you know, it was fine for ME,

0:25:590:26:01

"but let's kick the ladder away for the next lot."

0:26:010:26:04

I think we have to work out

0:26:040:26:06

why somebody believes in controlled immigration.

0:26:060:26:08

If you speak to my parents,

0:26:080:26:10

they seem to have so much more time for the newly-arrived immigrants

0:26:100:26:14

whom, as my dad keeps reminding me, have the same work ethic

0:26:140:26:16

that he had in the '60s and that my granddad had in the '50s.

0:26:160:26:20

If anything, he thinks that

0:26:200:26:22

some of the second and third generation Asians,

0:26:220:26:24

as he keeps complaining,

0:26:240:26:26

"Oh, they've got a work ethic that's become like the locals now.

0:26:260:26:29

"They don't work as hard as we did when we first arrived."

0:26:290:26:32

My dad's always moaning about the second and third generation Asians.

0:26:330:26:37

Bhownagree said that economic problems could be blamed

0:26:370:26:41

on "foreign pauper aliens".

0:26:410:26:43

I mean, you're not entirely innocent yourself, are you?

0:26:430:26:46

There was a leaflet in 2005 and you said,

0:26:460:26:49

"The only effective way to bring down immigration

0:26:490:26:51

"is to vote Tory and we'll do it."

0:26:510:26:53

The point that I was making was that politicians have to find a way

0:26:530:26:56

in which we talk about immigration -

0:26:560:26:59

not in the way in which the BNP or UKIP do, at one end,

0:26:590:27:02

and not at the other end, where we don't talk about it at all

0:27:020:27:04

because it's considered to be off limits.

0:27:040:27:07

We have to find a middle way. I would love to see a day

0:27:070:27:09

when we can actually take the politics

0:27:090:27:11

out of the debate on immigration.

0:27:110:27:13

Mm. Would you say politicians are too keen to use it?

0:27:130:27:16

Your flyer from the time is pretty clear.

0:27:160:27:20

It's saying, "If you want immigration to come down,

0:27:200:27:23

"vote for me."

0:27:230:27:24

The majority of people in this country, Ian,

0:27:240:27:27

are not all for stopping all immigration or having open borders.

0:27:270:27:30

They feel uneasy. They're in that middle.

0:27:300:27:32

There is nothing wrong to say we believe in controlled immigration.

0:27:320:27:36

It's when we use that debate to say to communities

0:27:360:27:39

that you do not belong that it becomes problematic.

0:27:390:27:42

So, today, Britain's immigrants and descendants of immigrants

0:27:470:27:51

may be just as proud as Bhownagree of their Britishness.

0:27:510:27:54

But do they share his views on other more recent arrivals?

0:27:550:27:59

I do not want unskilled immigration,

0:28:000:28:02

neither do I want immigration from Eastern Europe.

0:28:020:28:06

That's why I voted for Brexit

0:28:060:28:08

because I wanted this country to control its borders.

0:28:080:28:11

I 100% disagree with what he said.

0:28:110:28:14

That's saying that we are such a sort of precious item

0:28:140:28:19

that nobody should come to our country.

0:28:190:28:21

I have to say it is very British the way the two of you can disagree

0:28:210:28:24

about absolutely everything but still remain friends.

0:28:240:28:28

We have learned it from being British

0:28:280:28:30

because we have developed the art of tolerating each other.

0:28:300:28:34

A century ago,

0:28:380:28:40

parts of Britain's inner cities were becoming noticeably less tolerant.

0:28:400:28:44

After two decades of rising migration, there was pressure,

0:28:460:28:49

above all from Evans-Gordon and Bhownagree's faction,

0:28:490:28:52

for Britain's first ever immigration controls.

0:28:520:28:56

But the government still didn't know

0:28:560:28:58

if this was a national or a local problem.

0:28:580:29:01

So, in 1902, it set up a Royal Commission to find out

0:29:010:29:07

and the tireless Evans-Gordon was on the committee.

0:29:070:29:10

Here's a list of the witnesses who gave evidence over the 49 days.

0:29:120:29:17

Shoemaker, boot clicker, boot finisher, milk seller,

0:29:170:29:22

undertaker, butcher, the Mayor of Reading,

0:29:220:29:26

editor of Shoe And Leather Record...

0:29:260:29:29

Everybody had a view on immigration.

0:29:290:29:32

Spitalfields, which was formerly entirely occupied

0:29:330:29:36

by English people, is now a second Palestine.

0:29:360:29:40

These people have lessened the poverty.

0:29:410:29:44

The Jews are an exceptionally dirty race

0:29:460:29:48

and the Jewish bakehouses are insanitary.

0:29:480:29:51

The health of the Jewish population is far more satisfactory

0:29:520:29:56

than that of the Christian population.

0:29:560:29:58

The new population is about the same as the old but the women drink less.

0:30:000:30:03

Despite the wide range of opinions on display,

0:30:050:30:08

the hearings were dominated by Evans-Gordon.

0:30:080:30:11

He claimed to have asked

0:30:120:30:13

the majority of the 30,000 questions himself

0:30:130:30:16

and, in its final report, his influence is plain to see.

0:30:160:30:20

Here it is, the important bit - the recommendations.

0:30:220:30:26

And they certainly fit the Evans-Gordon agenda.

0:30:260:30:30

"The state should," they recommend,

0:30:300:30:32

"be allowed to refuse entry to undesirables,

0:30:320:30:36

"viz, criminals, prostitutes, idiots, lunatics,

0:30:360:30:40

"persons of notoriously bad character

0:30:400:30:43

"or likely to become a charge upon public funds,"

0:30:430:30:47

ie, they will have to be supported by benefits.

0:30:470:30:52

In essence, the Commission concludes that, for the first time ever,

0:30:520:30:56

modern peacetime Britain should be allowed to screen immigrants

0:30:560:31:01

and turn away the ones it doesn't want.

0:31:010:31:04

The government put the recommendations before Parliament

0:31:070:31:10

but found it had a fight on its hands.

0:31:100:31:13

In May, 1904, a letter appeared in the Manchester Guardian

0:31:140:31:18

and The Times.

0:31:180:31:20

The letter called the new proposals "a loathsome system

0:31:200:31:23

"of police interference and arbitrary power",

0:31:230:31:27

which would harass the simple immigrant,

0:31:270:31:29

the political refugee, the helpless and the poor.

0:31:290:31:33

It defiantly evoked the proud Victorian open-door policy,

0:31:330:31:38

praising "the old, tolerant and generous practice

0:31:380:31:43

"of free entry and asylum, to which this country has so long adhered

0:31:430:31:48

"and from which it has so greatly gained."

0:31:480:31:52

The author of the letter was a 29-year-old MP -

0:31:520:31:56

Winston Churchill.

0:31:560:31:58

Fresh from the Boer War,

0:32:010:32:03

young Winston was first elected to Parliament in 1900.

0:32:030:32:06

Impulsive and headstrong,

0:32:090:32:10

he'd fallen out with other Conservative MPs over free trade.

0:32:100:32:14

Now, he took on the Evans-Gordon brigade over immigration...

0:32:170:32:21

..and launched a passionate campaign to keep Britain's door wide open.

0:32:240:32:28

Churchill's letter was published for all to read, as a pamphlet.

0:32:310:32:35

"To judge by the talk there has been, one would have imagined

0:32:360:32:39

"we were being overrun by a swarming invasion

0:32:390:32:42

"and ousted from our island.

0:32:420:32:44

"This bill is expected to appeal to insular prejudice against foreigners

0:32:440:32:49

"and to racial prejudice against Jews."

0:32:490:32:52

For Churchill, Britain had come to a fork in the road,

0:32:520:32:56

between being a free, open and tolerant country

0:32:560:33:00

and one which was more closed, less liberal

0:33:000:33:03

and one which he did not want to see.

0:33:030:33:05

The day the letter was published,

0:33:080:33:10

having lost patience with his own party,

0:33:100:33:12

Churchill left the Conservatives.

0:33:120:33:14

He joined the Liberal party

0:33:160:33:18

and helped them force concessions from the government,

0:33:180:33:21

including a commitment to take in all asylum seekers.

0:33:210:33:24

The Aliens Act of 1905 was a watershed in British history.

0:33:260:33:30

The principle that anyone could get off a boat

0:33:300:33:33

and walk into Britain was gone forever.

0:33:330:33:35

But the ambition to deter poor economic migrants,

0:33:370:33:40

while protecting asylum seekers, created a dilemma.

0:33:400:33:43

Britain now made a legal distinction

0:33:450:33:47

between worthy and unworthy immigrants,

0:33:470:33:50

but first, it had to tell them apart.

0:33:500:33:52

Armed with the Aliens Act, Britain's new immigration officers

0:33:550:33:59

now had to sort the arrivals.

0:33:590:34:01

Those deemed economic migrants were only allowed in

0:34:030:34:06

if they carried £5, about £500 today.

0:34:060:34:10

But there were ways to get around the rules.

0:34:100:34:14

They would pass around...

0:34:150:34:16

If they could lay their hands on a £5 note, they would pass it around,

0:34:160:34:19

rather like football fans getting into a stadium with one ticket.

0:34:190:34:22

I think England was quite a "soft touch", as they would say.

0:34:220:34:26

And if things weren't confused enough,

0:34:280:34:30

another force was keen to stoke the debate.

0:34:300:34:33

Fear of foreigners sold a lot of newspapers.

0:34:340:34:37

In the summer of 1900,

0:34:410:34:42

Britain was stunned by bloodthirsty news from Peking.

0:34:420:34:47

Men, women and children had been besieged

0:34:470:34:49

inside the British Embassy compound by a horde of Chinese rebels.

0:34:490:34:53

The Daily Mail broke the story

0:34:550:34:56

and its account was quickly picked up by other papers,

0:34:560:34:59

including The Times.

0:34:590:35:00

"The Europeans fought with calm courage to the end

0:35:010:35:04

"against overwhelming hordes of fanatical barbarians

0:35:040:35:08

"thirsting for their blood,

0:35:080:35:10

"until borne down by the sheer weight of numbers,

0:35:100:35:14

"they perished at their posts.

0:35:140:35:16

"They died as we would have had them to die,

0:35:170:35:19

"fighting to the last for the helpless women and children

0:35:190:35:23

"who were to be butchered over their dead bodies."

0:35:230:35:26

It's an incredibly powerful piece of journalism.

0:35:280:35:30

There was only one problem.

0:35:300:35:32

The slaughter of the European men, women and children

0:35:320:35:36

hadn't actually happened.

0:35:360:35:38

It was fake news.

0:35:380:35:40

In fact, international troops had broken the siege

0:35:410:35:44

and the massacred Britons were alive.

0:35:440:35:46

But the press had learnt a valuable lesson.

0:35:480:35:51

The Chinese were great copy -

0:35:510:35:53

exotic, mysterious and now, apparently, murderous.

0:35:530:35:58

This was a picture that chimed with a growing fear in Britain.

0:35:580:36:02

And that fear was best expressed by a new expression

0:36:020:36:05

that had entered the English language - the "yellow peril".

0:36:050:36:09

The British papers were now hungry for stories a little closer to home.

0:36:130:36:17

Britain's Chinese community numbered fewer than 400

0:36:180:36:22

but had already prompted whispers about opium and illicit sex.

0:36:220:36:26

This was perfect press fodder. All it needed was a hook.

0:36:270:36:32

In 1906, 32 poor Chinese immigrants arrived in Britain,

0:36:340:36:39

mostly bound for the small Chinatown here, in Liverpool.

0:36:390:36:43

Under the new Aliens Act, entry was denied,

0:36:440:36:47

but when Chinese shopkeepers and laundrymen promised work,

0:36:470:36:51

an appeals board let them in.

0:36:510:36:53

Liverpool was up in arms.

0:36:550:36:57

Shouldn't British jobs be for British workers?

0:36:570:37:00

And the press, above all, one reporter, scented a big story.

0:37:000:37:05

Claude Blake was an American journalist.

0:37:070:37:10

In 1905, eager for racy material,

0:37:100:37:14

he hopped across the pond and followed his nose to Liverpool.

0:37:140:37:18

He paid his way with lurid articles for British readers

0:37:180:37:23

and, having seen the anti-Chinese hostility,

0:37:230:37:27

he published a sensational expose.

0:37:270:37:30

Blake lifted the lid on a jaw-dropping world

0:37:350:37:38

of vice and corruption here, in Liverpool.

0:37:380:37:40

The city's Chinatown had it all - squalor, crime, gambling dens,

0:37:400:37:46

the seduction of underage English girls into a life of sex and opium.

0:37:460:37:51

And he ends with a warning.

0:37:510:37:52

"When they hear from their countrymen

0:37:520:37:55

"that England is a good place where they're allowed to do as they like,

0:37:550:37:59

"they will come here in droves."

0:37:590:38:01

VOICEOVER: But was the story true?

0:38:040:38:06

Anna Chen's father came to Liverpool from China in 1927.

0:38:060:38:11

She's an expert on the "yellow peril" media storm.

0:38:110:38:15

So, this is Claude Blake's article. I love the fact it's...

0:38:160:38:20

It's very, very tiny type, but the crossheads are enormous.

0:38:200:38:24

That first one, "Sinister Offspring" -

0:38:240:38:26

-well, that'll be ME then.

-Yeah.

0:38:260:38:28

-"Perverted women".

-Oh, that'll also be me.

0:38:280:38:31

-"Fierce gamblers".

-No, not so much.

0:38:310:38:34

Blake says that, obviously,

0:38:340:38:36

all Chinese homes are just fronts for criminal practices.

0:38:360:38:39

What was the truth of this?

0:38:390:38:41

Well, Liverpool City Council were so alarmed by his piece

0:38:410:38:44

and by these claims that they set up an investigation

0:38:440:38:47

into the Chinese community in Liverpool.

0:38:470:38:50

And they found that, in fact,

0:38:500:38:52

the Chinese were "the embodiment of public order".

0:38:520:38:56

-That's quite a good quote.

-It is. It vindicated the Chinese totally.

0:38:560:39:01

Sex - let's get onto it cos Claude's there. What's his obsession here?

0:39:010:39:06

Oh, dear! Well, he writes,

0:39:060:39:08

"When you walk along a dark, dirty, evil-smelling street,

0:39:080:39:11

"and see in each ill-lighted doorway a group of half-caste youngsters -

0:39:110:39:15

"half-yellow and half-white - you must know that something is wrong."

0:39:150:39:19

There is this tremendous fear

0:39:190:39:21

of the pollution of the glorious white race.

0:39:210:39:24

Was this a really big scare, the yellow peril?

0:39:240:39:27

It was huge.

0:39:270:39:29

Only days after Blake's piece in the Sunday Chronicle,

0:39:290:39:33

the Liverpool Courier is now piling in, and this time,

0:39:330:39:36

with pictures, with added illustrations.

0:39:360:39:38

And look how simian they've drawn the Chinese.

0:39:380:39:42

Here we are. They're excited gamblers and opium smokers.

0:39:420:39:46

Was the opium essentially making everyone criminal?

0:39:460:39:49

Well, the Chief Constable at the time said

0:39:490:39:52

that no crimes resulting from it ever came to his attention.

0:39:520:39:55

So, that was it? Nothing.

0:39:550:39:57

Yeah, nothing, so it was a storm in a teacup.

0:39:570:39:59

So, it seems some journalists a century ago didn't let the facts

0:40:040:40:08

stand in the way of a good immigration story.

0:40:080:40:11

And today?

0:40:110:40:13

There's a lot of false news out there

0:40:150:40:17

and I think it's all very blown up

0:40:170:40:20

and people have a very big misconception

0:40:200:40:22

on immigration in this country.

0:40:220:40:24

"They're taking your jobs and they're making everything cheaper."

0:40:240:40:28

Do you think our view of immigrants...

0:40:280:40:30

-Do you think the newspapers blow it up a bit?

-Yeah, course you do.

0:40:300:40:34

In April, 2015, the press's contribution to the national debate

0:40:370:40:41

came under intense scrutiny

0:40:410:40:43

when the then Sun columnist Katie Hopkins said

0:40:430:40:47

she would use gunships to stop migration

0:40:470:40:49

and compared immigrants to cockroaches.

0:40:490:40:51

We're looking at period where immigration became a huge topic

0:40:530:40:57

for the press and it was immediately very popular.

0:40:570:41:01

Why do you think that is?

0:41:010:41:03

I think two things will always sell newspapers.

0:41:030:41:06

One of them is Maddie McCann and one of them is migrants.

0:41:060:41:08

-Did you read the piece that Claude Blake wrote?

-Yes.

0:41:080:41:12

I liked the idea of this historical reflection

0:41:120:41:15

but it feels so modern, it feels completely contemporary,

0:41:150:41:19

apart from the wording and the linguistics about it,

0:41:190:41:21

which I sort of enjoy.

0:41:210:41:22

It feels like a hugely contemporary piece.

0:41:220:41:24

Um, you used the term "cockroaches" in a piece about migrants.

0:41:240:41:29

Blake didn't go that far. Is that something that you still stand by?

0:41:290:41:35

Mm, if you pick out one word

0:41:350:41:36

out of a 800-word, 600-word whatever, piece...

0:41:360:41:41

-It's quite a strong word.

-It probably could stand alone.

0:41:410:41:43

We were always taught that there were only a few people

0:41:430:41:46

that could withstand, or few animals or few creatures

0:41:460:41:48

that could withstand a nuclear holocaust.

0:41:480:41:50

So, I was talking about the enduring nature of migrants,

0:41:500:41:53

able to cross the Mediterranean and I used the term "cockroach".

0:41:530:41:57

Your language...

0:41:570:41:58

-You say the linguistics have changed since Blake.

-Yes.

0:41:580:42:01

In fact, you used the same words - "festering sores".

0:42:010:42:04

That's what he says, that's what YOU say.

0:42:040:42:06

I did say to you I admired his language.

0:42:060:42:08

Yes. I mean, you're proud of that, are you?

0:42:090:42:12

I think I am honest about the fact that there's lots of London,

0:42:120:42:16

there are lots of places where migrants live that aren't pretty.

0:42:160:42:19

Those dosshouses, those mildew-infested places

0:42:190:42:23

with fourteen people in a room designed for two.

0:42:230:42:25

I'd love it if you came there

0:42:250:42:27

and try to tell me that wasn't a festering sore.

0:42:270:42:30

Well, you could say, "It's an offence against humanity,

0:42:300:42:32

"it's time we did something about it."

0:42:320:42:34

I don't feel the need to do anything about it.

0:42:340:42:37

Well, the thing I would do about it, of course, is have our borders

0:42:370:42:40

such that we don't have 600,000 people here that are here illegally.

0:42:400:42:44

That seems nonsense to me.

0:42:440:42:45

You referred to a "plague of feral humans".

0:42:450:42:48

I mean, are they all feral? Is it actually a plague?

0:42:480:42:52

Aren't they just a group of people?

0:42:520:42:54

It's because you look at them and think, "You are nothing like me.

0:42:540:42:57

"You don't understand how our culture works.

0:42:570:42:59

"You think it's OK to molest a young boy in a swimming pool.

0:42:590:43:02

-"You think it's OK to rape women..."

-You say you've met these people.

0:43:020:43:05

Haven't you met any asylum seekers who you've talked to and thought,

0:43:050:43:08

"You're an ordinary human being? You're not a feral human being"?

0:43:080:43:11

I think these individuals from some of these cultures they come from

0:43:110:43:14

ARE feral humans. I stand by those words.

0:43:140:43:17

I used those words explicitly.

0:43:170:43:19

I think I reflect the national conversation

0:43:190:43:23

and I don't see that as hatred

0:43:230:43:25

and I don't see that as distrust or mistrust.

0:43:250:43:28

I see that as people wanting to protect the thing they love

0:43:280:43:32

and this would be an interesting thing...

0:43:320:43:34

-But do they do that by hating the other?

-No, I don't see that at all.

0:43:340:43:38

I'm just reading your stuff, thinking,

0:43:380:43:40

-"This is filled with hate, isn't it?" A lot of it.

-No.

0:43:400:43:43

You really hate this, you hate that.

0:43:430:43:45

-It's part of the shock jock genre, isn't it?

-No, I just have very...

0:43:450:43:48

If someone's been around for 12 years or so,

0:43:480:43:52

speaking their version of truth, with a now massive audience,

0:43:520:43:57

there's a reason that that's gained support

0:43:570:44:00

and it isn't to do with speaking hate or whipping up frenzies

0:44:000:44:05

or making people anti a "yellow peril", using your words.

0:44:050:44:10

Er, it's because there is a sense that there is a whole world of stuff

0:44:100:44:15

we can no longer say

0:44:150:44:17

and it's because there's a whole world of state media

0:44:170:44:21

that appear to be very biased in a particular direction.

0:44:210:44:25

It's because of people like you that there are people like me.

0:44:250:44:29

And I've always said this - that you guys, the liberal elite in London,

0:44:290:44:33

are responsible for me.

0:44:330:44:35

You are Dr Frankenstein and I am your monster.

0:44:350:44:39

Well, er, for me, one thing, at the very least,

0:44:430:44:46

that's missing from that argument is compassion.

0:44:460:44:49

Whilst debates rage on about economic migrants,

0:44:520:44:55

many feel that Britain has a moral obligation

0:44:550:44:58

to help those in genuine danger.

0:44:580:45:00

Remarkably, the greatest demonstration

0:45:030:45:05

of this vision of Britain came at the most hostile time of all.

0:45:050:45:09

I'm in Folkestone, canvassing opinions on a revealing painting.

0:45:180:45:23

-Where do you think this picture is?

-Globally?

-Yep, globally.

-Um...

0:45:270:45:32

-Well, this is Folkestone.

-Correct.

0:45:320:45:35

And when do you think it is?

0:45:350:45:37

-1960s?

-1960s?!

0:45:370:45:40

-You know all about sailing.

-16th century.

0:45:400:45:44

Maybe 100 years ago?

0:45:440:45:45

It's about the era of the Forsyte Saga.

0:45:450:45:48

Could be around one of the wars, maybe the First World War.

0:45:480:45:51

That's spot-on. And what do you think is happening?

0:45:510:45:54

Looks like a bit of a welcoming committee.

0:45:560:45:59

And who do you think they're welcoming?

0:45:590:46:01

-I think some people not from this country.

-Correct.

-Yes.

0:46:010:46:05

-They're refugees.

-Oh, they're refugees.

0:46:050:46:08

-They're Belgians.

-Oh.

-Oh.

-Did you know that?

-No.

-No.

0:46:080:46:11

This is the Belgian refugees coming across to Folkestone,

0:46:110:46:15

where they were very warmly received.

0:46:150:46:18

-You're no fun! You know this!

-I do!

0:46:180:46:21

And here's the real painting.

0:46:240:46:27

The Landing Of The Belgian Refugees, August, 1914.

0:46:270:46:32

And they are not being grilled about what their plans are

0:46:320:46:35

or whether they're destitute or not.

0:46:350:46:37

They are being greeted by an official welcoming party.

0:46:370:46:41

Here are some ordinary English children,

0:46:410:46:43

offering a plate of cakes to the refugees.

0:46:430:46:46

And you notice they are well-fed, rosy-cheeked, well-dressed,

0:46:460:46:51

in comparison to the pale, rather haunted-looking refugees.

0:46:510:46:56

The Belgians are fleeing for their lives from the German army,

0:46:590:47:02

which had invaded their country

0:47:020:47:04

and started committing a series of civilian massacres.

0:47:040:47:07

There was a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

0:47:080:47:12

And the numbers of refugees arriving are extraordinary.

0:47:120:47:15

During the First World War -

0:47:150:47:17

and this is principally through Folkestone -

0:47:170:47:19

over 250,000 Belgian refugees arrived in Britain

0:47:190:47:24

and were fed, housed and welcomed.

0:47:240:47:28

It was the greatest work of charitable relief

0:47:280:47:30

in British history

0:47:300:47:32

and it was thanks, above all, to one extraordinary woman.

0:47:320:47:36

Lady Lugard had been colonial editor of The Times.

0:47:390:47:43

She was the highest-paid female journalist of her day

0:47:430:47:46

and even invented the name Nigeria.

0:47:460:47:50

Back home, she became a great do-gooder.

0:47:530:47:56

She was determined that Britain's door,

0:47:560:47:58

closely guarded for wartime, should now be opened

0:47:580:48:02

and that every single Belgian refugee should be allowed to enter.

0:48:020:48:06

Less than three weeks after Britain joined the conflict,

0:48:080:48:11

Lugard set up a War Refugees Committee

0:48:110:48:14

and borrowed an office in central London.

0:48:140:48:18

They found an empty room with no chairs and barely any ink or paper,

0:48:180:48:22

but that morning's newspapers contained

0:48:220:48:26

a letter from Lady Lugard,

0:48:260:48:27

appealing not just for gifts of money and clothing,

0:48:270:48:31

but also for people willing to offer English hospitality

0:48:310:48:35

to destitute Belgians.

0:48:350:48:37

That evening's post, somewhat to her surprise, contained 1,000 replies.

0:48:370:48:43

The next day, it was 2,000.

0:48:430:48:46

Lady Lugard had set in motion a huge wave of humanitarianism

0:48:460:48:51

that, in the coming weeks and months,

0:48:510:48:53

would sweep right across the country.

0:48:530:48:55

Soon, there were over 2,000 relief organisations nationwide.

0:48:590:49:04

Women volunteers carried out the bulk of the work,

0:49:040:49:07

putting in up to 17 hours a day, 7 days a week.

0:49:070:49:11

Lugard herself remarked,

0:49:130:49:15

"It was a moment which unmistakeably revealed the heart of England."

0:49:150:49:19

Other nations cast people out, Britain took them in,

0:49:190:49:23

and that made us a country worth fighting for.

0:49:230:49:26

The Belgians soon became a familiar sight.

0:49:300:49:33

In a popular propaganda poster,

0:49:330:49:35

the smaller woman's outfit would have instantly indentified her

0:49:350:49:39

as Belgian,

0:49:390:49:40

while a young woman in Torquay used the Belgians

0:49:400:49:44

as inspiration for a new fictional detective - Hercule Poirot.

0:49:440:49:49

Yet, as the war ground on,

0:49:500:49:52

frictions started to emerge between Britons and their house guests.

0:49:520:49:57

MUSIC: Rule Britannia

0:49:570:49:59

The British, for example, loved fresh air.

0:49:590:50:02

MUSIC: La Brabanconne

0:50:080:50:11

But the Belgians thought draughts were unhealthy.

0:50:110:50:14

MUSIC: Rule Britannia

0:50:150:50:20

MUSIC: La Brabanconne

0:50:200:50:24

And this wasn't the only complaint being muttered.

0:50:270:50:31

Jane Mason from Folkestone said

0:50:310:50:33

that the Belgians made the kitchens reek of garlic.

0:50:330:50:37

Daisy Spickett from Pontypridd said

0:50:370:50:40

that many of them were very, very difficult, expecting the earth.

0:50:400:50:44

Mary Coules from Kent,

0:50:440:50:47

who'd organised a girls' choir to raise money, wrote in her diary,

0:50:470:50:51

"It may be true enough that Belgium saved Europe,

0:50:510:50:55

"but save US from the Belgians."

0:50:550:50:58

Despite the gripes, Britain extended its hospitality

0:51:010:51:05

to Belgians large and small, right to the end of the war.

0:51:050:51:09

A century on, volunteer organisations are, once again,

0:51:130:51:17

matching refugees with British hosts.

0:51:170:51:20

23-year-old Mario was training to be a commercial pilot in Syria

0:51:210:51:26

but, after war began, he left for Britain.

0:51:260:51:29

He now lives with Jennifer Nadel and her family.

0:51:300:51:33

What did you expect when you said, "I'll put up a refugee"?

0:51:350:51:39

I probably did have preconceptions.

0:51:400:51:43

I had naively thought that I would, you know,

0:51:430:51:46

have a young woman to stay because I have children

0:51:460:51:49

and that's what you think will fit best into your household

0:51:490:51:52

but it's young men that are most in danger and it's young men

0:51:520:51:55

that flee here and get here and it's young men that need to be housed.

0:51:550:52:01

OK, Mario, what everyone wants to know is why are you in Britain?

0:52:010:52:05

Um, something happened the last six years in my country.

0:52:050:52:10

Um, people started fighting between each other.

0:52:100:52:13

It's everywhere in Syria. Something happen every day.

0:52:130:52:17

Every building is, like, down and no have any life,

0:52:170:52:21

no have any opportunity to stay there.

0:52:210:52:24

That's why I'm looking for something to be safe, to carry on for my life.

0:52:240:52:28

So, who's left in Syria?

0:52:280:52:31

My mum and my sister and two cousins from my family.

0:52:310:52:37

The story we've been covering is where,

0:52:370:52:39

at the beginning of the First World War,

0:52:390:52:42

the British people welcomed 250,000 refugees -

0:52:420:52:45

that's men, women and children - into their homes,

0:52:450:52:48

-in a very short period of time. Does that surprise you?

-It does.

0:52:480:52:52

And I think how fantastic and that it's the right thing to do

0:52:520:52:56

and I don't know how many of those Belgians stayed here.

0:52:560:52:58

-Nearly all of them went back.

-Yeah, I mean that's why...

0:52:580:53:02

There are so many myths about people who seek refuge here -

0:53:020:53:05

that they've come here to stay, that they don't really need to be here,

0:53:050:53:08

or that they've got some kind of criminal or dangerous intent.

0:53:080:53:12

During the First World War,

0:53:130:53:15

it was a patriotic gesture to let other people in,

0:53:150:53:19

to share what you had.

0:53:190:53:21

Do you think we've lost that?

0:53:210:53:23

I think we have and I think it's incredibly sad

0:53:230:53:25

that Britishness has somehow been appropriated to actually mean

0:53:250:53:29

some kind of fortress mentality and drawing up the drawbridge

0:53:290:53:32

to prevent those who are most in need from coming here,

0:53:320:53:35

and how great would it be if we could just reclaim Britishness

0:53:350:53:39

for what it was then,

0:53:390:53:41

which is to open our homes and our arms to those who are in need.

0:53:410:53:46

That was who we were and we seem to have lost our way big time.

0:53:460:53:50

The usual argument is that that's fine

0:53:500:53:53

until the numbers get too large.

0:53:530:53:55

I would say, if it was your child that was in danger

0:53:550:53:58

of being shelled or buried alive,

0:53:580:54:00

numbers wouldn't make any difference to you,

0:54:000:54:03

and if you look at what those tiny countries

0:54:030:54:05

that are bordering Syria are doing,

0:54:050:54:07

countries which have none of the resources that we have...

0:54:070:54:10

We're the fifth richest economy in the world

0:54:100:54:13

and we can't do more to help.

0:54:130:54:15

That's just shameful, absolutely shameful.

0:54:150:54:18

By the end of 2016, Home Office figures show

0:54:210:54:25

that Britain had taken in around 13,000 Syrians,

0:54:250:54:29

far fewer than the huge number of Belgians.

0:54:290:54:32

But even back in 1919, the spirit of welcome they received was eclipsed

0:54:360:54:41

by a changed mood, as the soldiers came home from war.

0:54:410:54:45

Labour shortages meant Britain had opened its door

0:54:460:54:49

to workers from the Empire.

0:54:490:54:51

While the white European Belgians had mostly gone home,

0:54:510:54:55

these immigrants hadn't.

0:54:550:54:57

The demobilised soldiers returned

0:54:570:55:00

and they'd go down to the docks and the railway stations

0:55:000:55:03

and find Africans and Asians, and they were outraged

0:55:030:55:05

and, of course, the war had been fought to protect home and hearth

0:55:050:55:09

and the idea was to create a home fit for heroes.

0:55:090:55:12

I think the feeling was "Our needs must come first

0:55:120:55:15

"at this desperate time",

0:55:150:55:17

and also the whole of Europe was so shell-shocked.

0:55:170:55:19

-And on the move.

-And on the move. And so they rebelled.

0:55:190:55:23

Throughout 1919, riots broke out across Britain.

0:55:250:55:29

From Glasgow to South Shields to Cardiff,

0:55:300:55:32

much of the fury was targeted at immigrants.

0:55:320:55:35

Against this violent backdrop,

0:55:380:55:40

new anti-immigrant laws were being drawn up in Parliament,

0:55:400:55:43

restricting the employment and political rights

0:55:430:55:46

of economic migrants.

0:55:460:55:48

But the biggest change was for those seeking asylum.

0:55:480:55:52

Back in 1905, the government had ring-fenced

0:55:520:55:56

the rights of asylum seekers

0:55:560:55:58

but, in 1919, Britain was in no mood

0:55:580:56:01

to accept, protect or pay for foreigners.

0:56:010:56:05

Immigrant and asylum seeker would be lumped together

0:56:050:56:09

under one definition.

0:56:090:56:10

Both were aliens and neither were particularly welcome.

0:56:100:56:14

The Liberal party fought the abolition of the right to asylum,

0:56:160:56:20

with a passionate speech from the opposition leader,

0:56:200:56:22

Sir Donald Maclean.

0:56:220:56:24

Maclean said, "One of the greatest claims for moral leadership

0:56:250:56:29

"which this country has made

0:56:290:56:30

"is the fact that we have never refused asylum

0:56:300:56:33

"to all those poor and distressed subjects

0:56:330:56:36

"of oppressed races who have sought asylum here.

0:56:360:56:40

"Are we to wreck that noble tradition?"

0:56:400:56:42

It was a sentiment the Victorians would have recognised.

0:56:450:56:48

It's The Times, in 1853, declaring Britain the asylum of nations.

0:56:480:56:53

It's Churchill, in 1904,

0:56:530:56:56

praising those ancient traditions of freedom and hospitality.

0:56:560:57:00

It's Lady Lugard saying, in 1915,

0:57:000:57:02

that welcoming refugees revealed the heart of the nation.

0:57:020:57:07

But if the ideal kept on being repeated down the years,

0:57:070:57:11

then the echo had grown gradually fainter.

0:57:110:57:13

In December, 1919, the new Act became law.

0:57:170:57:20

It was the final step in the transformation of British attitudes,

0:57:230:57:27

from the open door of the Victorians

0:57:270:57:29

to a nation that guarded its borders.

0:57:290:57:32

Unexpected arrivals, surprising attitudes,

0:57:320:57:36

extremes of hatred and compassion -

0:57:360:57:39

they'd all played their part in a fierce national debate

0:57:390:57:43

that's still with us today.

0:57:430:57:45

In 2017, immigration seems to be

0:57:470:57:50

Britain's second favourite topic of conversation.

0:57:500:57:53

I've met very few people who want to go back to Churchill

0:57:530:57:57

or the Victorians' idea of a wide-open door.

0:57:570:58:00

But I have found the struggles that Britain went through,

0:58:000:58:03

when it first tried to tackle mass immigration,

0:58:030:58:06

do have lessons and warnings for us today.

0:58:060:58:09

Perhaps we should treat arguments about immigration

0:58:100:58:13

in the same way we treat immigrants themselves.

0:58:130:58:17

So, let's be cautious, let's screen the arguments for facts,

0:58:170:58:20

let's check the background,

0:58:200:58:22

let's try and differentiate between the helpful and the harmful.

0:58:220:58:26

Let's close the door to political bandwagonning

0:58:280:58:31

and press hysteria and racism.

0:58:310:58:33

And let's allow in honesty and transparency

0:58:340:58:39

and compassion and idealism,

0:58:390:58:41

as well as common sense and self-preservation.

0:58:410:58:44

It might work.

0:58:440:58:46

You could call it an open-mind policy.

0:58:460:58:49

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