Mr Heath last night dismissed Mr Enoch Powell from the Shadow Cabinet. It became clear that the members of Mr Heath's Shadow Cabinet were unanimous that Mr Powell would have to go. Several Front Bench members let it be known that they would resign if Mr Powell remained. Two of the leading figures in the drama appear to have been Mr Maudling, deputy leader of the party, and Mr Hogg, chief home affairs spokesman. Both are understood to have been appalled by Mr Powell's inflammatory speech.
Certainly there were intensive consultations between members of the Shadow Cabinet and between many of them and Mr Heath. By the end of the afternoon it must have been apparent that Mr Heath would receive the full support of his colleagues if he dismissed Mr Powell. It was emphasised, however, that the decision to dismiss Mr Powell belonged to Mr Heath personally. He appears to have spent most of the day at Broadstairs brooding on the situation created by Mr Powell's highly emotive speech on the Race elations Bill, and to have telephoned Mr Powell at Wolverhampton at about 9pm.
A statement issued by Mr Heath said: "I have told Mr Powell that I consider the speech he made in Birmingham yesterday to have been racialist in tone and liable to exacerbate racial tensions. This is unacceptable from one of the leaders of the Conservative Party."
Friends of Mr Heath insisted that this was a decision which could not be delayed once it had been reached. The sense of relief expressed by several of My Heath's colleagues late last night underlined this point.
But there is no doubt that a major factor in making up Mr Heath's mind was the certainty of a further 24 hours of unfavourable press comment - even from normally Conservative newspapers.
Mr Powell is certain to receive the impassioned support of Right-wing Tories for his expression of views on the race question which are widely popular among sections of the electorate. As one Tory MP put it last night, with an eye to public opinion: "You could call him Mr National Opinion Powell."
[Powell said Commonwealth immigration policy must be "mad, literally mad", adding: "It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre" and "Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood."]