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another feisty Parkinsonian gone ... Sunday February 8, 8:15 am Eastern Time Maverick British politician Enoch Powell dies LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Enoch Powell, a former British Conservative minister known for his outspoken views on immigration, died on Sunday at the age of 85. "He died at 4.30 this morning. He has had Parkinson's disease for a bit but died comfortably," Greville Howard, Powell's former private secretary, told Reuters. Powell leaves a wife and two daughters. One of Britain's leading political mavericks, Powell was best known for a speech in 1968 in which he urged Britain to stop the flow of immigrants from its former colonies, likening its immigration policies to a nation building its own funeral pyre. "Like the Roman, I seem to see the river Tiber foaming with much blood," he said. Known thereafter as the "rivers of blood" speech, it provoked public outcry. Then Conservative leader Edward Heath denounced the speech as racialist and sacked Powell from his opposition shadow cabinet. Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.