Churchill Grandson Urges Halt to Flow of Immigrants : Britain: Wartime prime minister’s namesake says nation’s way of life is threatened. Comments prompt public outcry.

Conservative Member of Parliament Winston Churchill, grandson and namesake of Britain’s wartime prime minister, set off a public outcry Saturday by calling for an urgent halt to the “relentless flow” of immigrants into Britain.

Addressing a Conservative Party gathering in northern England, Churchill said that the British way of life and liberal democracy are threatened by immigration, particularly from the Indian subcontinent.

One news report characterized his remarks as among the most controversial here since maverick Conservative Enoch Powell predicted in 1968 that a blood bath would result from mass immigration.

Reacting to Churchill’s speech, newly appointed Home Secretary Michael Howard said: “The record of race relations in this country is extremely good. I condemn any intervention which could have the effect of damaging race relations.

“As long as we maintain firm control over immigration, which we are doing, and act to close loopholes, we shall maintain our good record of race relations--of which we can be justifiably proud,” he added.

A spokesman at No. 10 Downing St. said that Prime Minister John Major fully endorsed Howard’s comments.

In his speech, Churchill said that “the population of many of our northern cities is now well over 50% immigrant, and Muslims claim there are now more than 2 million of their co-religionists in Britain.”

He continued: “Mr. Major seeks to reassure us with the old refrain, ‘There’ll always be an England.’ He promises us that 50 years on from now, spinsters will still be cycling to Communion on Sunday mornings; more likely the muezzin will be calling Allah’s faithful to the High (Main) Street mosque.”

Churchill, a backbencher who served briefly in the government of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said an urgent halt must be called “if the British way of life is to be preserved,” adding that immigrants often illegally take welfare funds.

“Immigrants have made an important contribution to this country in many ways,” he said, “but we cannot delude ourselves into imagining that we can solve the problems of Africa and Asia by a policy of immigration to Britain.”

Outraged Labor Member of Parliament Max Madden announced that he had written to Major demanding to know what action the prime minister would take on behalf of the Conservative Party “to repudiate the odious views expressed by Winston Churchill.”

Others disputed Churchill’s assertions that many northern cities have large immigrant populations, arguing that specific cities named by Churchill, Bradford and Leeds, are only 12% immigrant.

According to the 1991 census, 6% of Britain’s population is of non-British origin.

The highest proportion of ethnic minorities is in Greater London, with 17%, according to census figures.