Greater Britain was a term that arose in the second half of the 19th century in British discourse about the British Empire . The term was used in different ways by different people and sometimes in different ways by the same person. Many were associated with the Imperial Federation League , a political grouping that encompassed political activists from a broad range of backgrounds in supporting a more positive approach to the empire in the policies of the British government .
84-700: During the 20th century, Oswald Mosley revived the term with his book The Greater Britain , which was published by the British Union of Fascists in 1932 to launch his party. He wrote, "Our task is not to invent Fascism , but to find for it in Britain its highest expression and development". In 1964 John Tyndall founded the Greater Britain Movement (GBM) and derived its name from Moseley's earlier book. Although Tyndall initially aimed to link up with other Neo-Nazis internationally, such open espousal of Nazism
168-452: A spoiler effect in splitting the left-wing vote and allowing Conservative candidates to win. Despite this, the organisation gained support among many Labour and Conservative politicians who agreed with his corporatist economic policy, and among these were Aneurin Bevan and Harold Macmillan . Mosley's corporatism was complemented by Keynesianism , with Robert Skidelsky stating, "Keynesianism
252-565: A "talk-shop" into a "workshop." In 1992, the then UK prime minister, John Major , examined Mosley's ideas in order to find an unorthodox solution to the aftermath of the 1990–91 economic recession . Dissatisfied with the Labour Party, Mosley and six other Labour MPs (two of whom resigned after one day) founded the New Party . Its early parliamentary contests, in the 1931 Ashton-under-Lyne by-election and subsequent by-elections, arguably had
336-569: A Conservative challenge in the 1922 and 1923 general elections . According to Lady Mosley's autobiography, The Liberal Westminster Gazette wrote that Mosley was "the most polished literary speaker in the Commons, words flow from him in graceful epigrammatic phrases that have a sting in them for the government and the Conservatives. To listen to him is an education in the English language, also in
420-557: A Labour candidate. He therefore decided to oppose Neville Chamberlain in Birmingham Ladywood . Mosley campaigned aggressively in Ladywood, and accused Chamberlain of being a "landlords' hireling". The outraged Chamberlain demanded that Mosley retract the claim "as a gentleman". Mosley, whom Stanley Baldwin described as "a cad and a wrong 'un", refused to withdraw the allegation. Mosley was noted for bringing excitement and energy to
504-523: A by-election in 1926 and served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Labour government of 1929–1931 . In 1928, he succeeded his father as the sixth Mosley baronet , a title in his family for over a century. Some considered Mosley a rising star and possible future prime minister. He resigned in 1930 over discord with the government's unemployment policies. He chose not to defend his Smethwick constituency at
588-565: A clergyman and an intimate friend of the "Indian Saint", as Mosley described him. They met in Kadda , where Gandhi was quick to invite him to a private conference in which Gandhi was chairman. Mosley later called Gandhi a "sympathetic personality of subtle intelligence". Cynthia died of peritonitis in 1933, after which Mosley married his mistress Diana Guinness , née Mitford (1910–2003). They married in secret in Nazi Germany on 6 October 1936 in
672-755: A deal in 1937 with Francis Beaumont , heir to the Seigneurage of Sark , to set up a privately owned radio station on Sark . By the end of the First World War , Mosley had decided to go into politics as a Conservative member of parliament, as he had no university education or practical experience because of the war. He was 21 years old. He was driven by, and in parliament spoke of, a passionate conviction to avoid any future war, and this seemingly motivated his career. Largely because of his family background and war service, local Conservative and Labour associations preferred Mosley in several constituencies—a vacancy near
756-523: A meeting in the Town Hall. At that meeting Mosley announced that "he was glad indeed to have the opportunity of introducing the first candidate, and ... [thereby] killed for all time the suggestion that National Socialism proposed putting British women back into the home; this is simply not true. Mrs Elam [he went on] had fought in the past for women's suffrage ... and was a great example of the emancipation of women in Britain." Former suffragettes were drawn to
840-495: A point of speaking in the House of Commons without notes. Mosley was an early supporter of the economist John Maynard Keynes . The economic historian Robert Skidelsky described Mosley as "a disciple of Keynes in the 1920s". Mosley was at this time falling out with the Conservatives over their Irish policy, and condemned the operations of the Black and Tans against civilians during
924-650: A sizeable following, with the party claiming 50,000 members at one point. The press baron Lord Rothermere was a notable early supporter. As the party became increasingly radical, however, support declined. The Olympia Rally of 1934, in which a number of anti-fascist protestors were attacked by the paramilitary wing of the BUF, the Fascist Defence Force , isolated the party from much of its following. The party's embrace of Nazi -style antisemitism in 1936 led to increasingly violent confrontations with anti-fascists, notably
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#17330928409301008-447: A storm of applause towards the platform—who could doubt that here was one of those root-and-branch men who have been thrown up from time to time in the religious, political and business story of England. First that gripping audience is arrested, then stirred and finally, as we have said, swept off its feet by a tornado of peroration yelled at the defiant high pitch of a tremendous voice. After his election failure in 1931, Mosley went on
1092-400: A study tour of the "new movements" of Italy's Benito Mussolini and other fascists, and returned convinced, particularly by Fascist Italy 's economic programme, that it was the way forward for Britain. He was determined to unite the existing fascist movements and created the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932. The BUF was protectionist , strongly anti-communist and nationalistic to
1176-612: A year in existence. It had ties with the Blueshirts in the Irish Free State and voiced support for a United Ireland , describing the partition of Ireland as "an insurmountable barrier to peace, and prosperity in Ireland". Its logo combined the fasces with the Red Hand of Ulster . The BUF became more antisemitic over 1934–35 owing to the growing influence of Nazi sympathisers within
1260-543: Is an event of capital importance in domestic politics... We feel that Sir Oswald has acted rightly—as he has certainly acted courageously—in declining to share any longer in the responsibility for inertia." In October he attempted to persuade the Labour Party Conference to accept the Memorandum, but was defeated again. The Mosley Memorandum won the support of the economist John Maynard Keynes , who stated that "it
1344-536: Is very great". Among Mosley's supporters at this time included John Strachey , the novelist Henry Williamson , military theorist J. F. C. Fuller , and the future " Lord Haw Haw ", William Joyce . Mosley had found problems with disruption of New Party meetings, and instituted a corps of black-uniformed paramilitary stewards, the Fascist Defence Force , nicknamed "Blackshirts", like the Italian fascist Voluntary Militia for National Security they were emulating. The party
1428-493: Is what it amounts to. ... [The] manifesto offers us a starting point for thought and action. ... It will shock—it must do so—the many good citizens of this country...who have laissez-faire in their craniums, their consciences, and their bones ... But how anyone professing and calling himself a socialist can keep away from the manifesto is a more obscure matter." According to Lady Mosley's autobiography, thirty years later, in 1961, Richard Crossman wrote: "this brilliant memorandum
1512-469: The 1929 general election he was appointed only to the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster , a position without portfolio and outside the Cabinet. He was given responsibility for solving the unemployment problem, but found that his radical proposals were blocked either by Lord Privy Seal James Henry Thomas or by the cabinet. Realising the economic uncertainty that was facing the nation because of
1596-655: The 1931 general election , instead unsuccessfully standing in Stoke-on-Trent . Mosley's New Party became the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932. As leader, he publicly espoused antisemitism and sought alliances with other fascist leaders such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler . Fascist violence under Mosley's leadership culminated in the 1936 Battle of Cable Street , during which anti-fascist demonstrators including trade unionists , liberals , socialists , communists , anarchists , and British Jews prevented
1680-550: The Battle of Cable Street in October 1936, when organised anti-fascists prevented the BUF from marching through Cable Street. However, the party later staged other marches through the East End without incident, albeit not on Cable Street itself. BUF support for Edward VIII and the peace campaign to prevent a second World War saw membership and public support rise once more. The government
1764-546: The British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union . In 1939, following the start of the Second World War , the party was proscribed by the British government and in 1940 it was disbanded. The BUF emerged in 1932 from the electoral defeat of its antecedent, the New Party , in the 1931 general election . The BUF's foundation was initially met with popular support, and it attracted
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#17330928409301848-480: The First World War , Mosley was one of the youngest members of Parliament, representing Harrow from 1918 , first as a Conservative , then an independent, and finally joining the Labour Party . At the 1924 general election he stood in Birmingham Ladywood against the future prime minister, Neville Chamberlain , coming within 100 votes of defeating him. Mosley returned to parliament as Labour MP for Smethwick at
1932-553: The Irish War of Independence . He was secretary of the Peace with Ireland Council. As secretary of the council, he proposed sending a commission to Ireland to examine on-the-spot reprisals by the Black and Tans. In late 1920, he crossed the floor to sit as an independent MP on the opposition side of the House of Commons. Having built up a following in his constituency, he retained it against
2016-545: The Union Movement , but he had no successes. Attracted by "modern" fascist policies, such as ending the widespread practice of sacking women from their jobs on marriage, many women joined the Blackshirts – particularly in economically depressed Lancashire. Eventually women constituted one-quarter of the BUF's membership. In a January 2010 BBC documentary, Mother Was A Blackshirt , James Maw reported that in 1914 Norah Elam
2100-543: The 1920s and at the start of the 1930s. Mosley appears in a list of names of Fabians from Fabian News and the Fabian Society Annual Report 1929–31 . He was Kingsway Hall lecturer in 1924 and Livingstone Hall lecturer in 1931. Mosley then made a bold bid for political advancement within the Labour Party. He was close to Ramsay MacDonald and hoped for one of the Great Offices of State , but when Labour won
2184-485: The 1930s. He argues that trying to "challenge the 50-year-old system of free trade ... exposes industry in the home market to the chaos of world conditions, such as price fluctuation, dumping, and the competition of sweated labour, which result in the lowering of wages and industrial decay." In a newspaper feature, Mosley was described as "a strange blend of J.M. Keynes and Major Douglas of credit fame". From July 1930, he began to demand that government must be turned from
2268-473: The 1936 Battle of Cable Street in London's East End . The Public Order Act 1936 , which banned political uniforms and responded to increasing political violence, had a particularly strong effect on the BUF whose supporters were known as "Blackshirts" after the uniforms they wore. Growing British hostility towards Nazi Germany , with which the British press persistently associated the BUF, further contributed to
2352-439: The BUF for a variety of reasons. Many felt the movement's energy reminded them of the suffragettes, while others felt the BUF's economic policies would offer them true equality – unlike its continental counterparts, the movement insisted it would not require women to return to domesticity and that the corporatist state would ensure adequate representation for housewives, while it would also guarantee equal wages for women and remove
2436-697: The BUF found a following in the East End of London , where in the London County Council elections of March 1937, it obtained reasonably successful results in Bethnal Green , Shoreditch and Limehouse , polling almost 8,000 votes, although none of its candidates was elected. The BUF did elect a few councillors at local government level during the 1930s (including Charles Bentinck Budd ( Worthing , Sussex ), 1934; Ronald Creasy ( Eye, Suffolk ), 1938) but did not win any parliamentary seats. Two former members of
2520-531: The BUF from marching through London's East End . Mosley subsequently held a series of rallies around London, and the BUF increased its membership there. In May 1940, after the outbreak of the Second World War , Mosley was imprisoned and the BUF was banned. He was released in 1943 and, politically disgraced by his association with fascism, moved abroad in 1951, spending most of the remainder of his life in Paris and two residences in Ireland. He stood for Parliament during
2604-403: The BUF tried to march through an area with a high proportion of Jewish residents. Violence, now called the Battle of Cable Street , resulted between protesters trying to block the march and police trying to force it through. Sir Philip Game , the police commissioner , stopped the march from proceeding and the BUF abandoned it. Mosley continued to organise marches policed by the Blackshirts, and
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2688-428: The BUF, Major Sir Jocelyn Lucas and Harold Soref , were later elected as Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs). Having lost the funding of newspaper magnate Lord Rothermere , that it had previously enjoyed, at the 1935 general election the party urged voters to abstain, calling for "Fascism Next Time". There never was a "next time" as the next general election was not held until July 1945, five years after
2772-551: The BUF, the paper was so vitriolic in its condemnation of European fascism that Nazi Germany added the paper's directors to a hit list in the event of a successful Operation Sea Lion . The Mail continued to support the BUF until the Olympia rally in June 1934. John Gunther described Mosley in 1940 as "strikingly handsome. He is probably the best orator in England. His personal magnetism
2856-506: The Berlin home of Germany's Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels . Adolf Hitler was their guest of honour. Mosley spent large amounts of his private fortune on the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and tried to establish it on a firm financial footing by various means including an attempt to negotiate, through Diana, with Hitler for permission to broadcast commercial radio to Britain from Germany. Mosley reportedly made
2940-643: The Birmingham Proposals; they continued to form the basis of Mosley's economics until the end of his political career. Mosley was critical of Winston Churchill 's policy as Chancellor of the Exchequer . After Churchill returned Britain to the Gold Standard , Mosley claimed that "faced with the alternative of saying goodbye to the gold standard, and therefore to his own employment, and goodbye to other people's employment, Mr. Churchill characteristically selected
3024-625: The Blackshirt employees redundant, some of whom then defected from the party with William Joyce . In October 1937 in Liverpool , he was knocked unconscious by two stones thrown by crowd members after he delivered a fascist salute to 8,000 people from the top of a van in Walton . As the European situation moved towards war, the BUF began to nominate parliamentary by-election candidates and launched campaigns on
3108-524: The British: "There are men who say that Britain in her age will claim the glory of having planted greater Englands across the seas. They fail to perceive that she has done more than found plantations of her own—that she has imposed her institutions upon the offshoots of Germany, of Ireland, of Scandinavia, and of Spain. Through America, England is speaking to the world". He toured the United States shortly after
3192-758: The Duke and Duchess of Brabant (later King Leopold III and Queen Astrid of Belgium). During this marriage, he began an extended affair with his wife's younger sister, Lady Alexandra Metcalfe , and a separate affair with their stepmother, Grace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston , the American-born second wife and widow of Lord Curzon of Kedleston. He succeeded to the Mosley baronetcy of Ancoats upon his father's death in 1928. Among his many travels, Mosley travelled to British India accompanied by Lady Cynthia in 1924. His father-in-law's past as Viceroy of India allowed for
3276-481: The English people lie in the conflict with the cheaper races. The result of our survey is such as to give us reason for the belief that race distinctions will long continue, that miscegenation will go but little way toward blending races; that the dearer are, on the whole, likely to destroy the cheaper peoples, and that Saxondom will rise triumphant from the doubtful struggle." (Chapter 23: The English) John Colomb produced The Defence of Great and Greater Britain after
3360-645: The Labour Party soon after, in early 1931, when the plans were rejected. He immediately formed the New Party , with policies based on his memorandum. The party won 16% of the vote at a by-election in Ashton-under-Lyne in early 1931; however, it failed to achieve any other electoral success. During 1931, the New Party became increasingly influenced by fascism . The following year, after a January 1932 visit to Benito Mussolini in Italy , Mosley's own conversion to fascism
3444-507: The Nazis had donated about £50,000 to the BUF. By 1939, total BUF membership had declined to just 20,000. On 23 May 1940, Mosley and some 740 other party members were interned under Defence Regulation 18B . The BUF then called on its followers to resist invasion, but it was declared unlawful on 10 July 1940 and ceased its activities. After the war, Mosley made several unsuccessful attempts to return to political life, one such being through
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3528-587: The U.S. mercantile heiress Mary Leiter . Lord Curzon had to be persuaded that Mosley was a suitable husband, as he suspected Mosley was largely motivated by social advancement in Conservative Party politics and Cynthia's inheritance. The 1920 wedding took place in the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace in London. The hundreds of guests included King George V and Queen Mary , as well as foreign royalty such as
3612-543: The acquaintance of various personalities along the journey. They travelled by ship and stopped briefly in Cairo . Having initially arrived in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka ), the journey then continued through mainland India . They spent these initial days in the government house of Ceylon, followed by Madras and then Calcutta , where the governor at the time was Lord Lytton . Mosley met Mahatma Gandhi through C. F. Andrews ,
3696-797: The announcement of the Royal Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad in 1879. Chapter II was published in The British Trade Journal in 1872. Chapter III and IV were read before the Royal Colonial Institute in 1873 and 1877. Chapters V and VI were read before the Royal United Services Institute in 1879. Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980),
3780-561: The art of delicate but deadly repartee. He has human sympathies, courage and brains." By 1924, he was growing increasingly attracted to the Labour Party , which had just formed a government, and in March he joined it. He immediately joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) as well and allied himself with the left. When the government fell in October, Mosley had to choose a new seat, as he believed that Harrow would not re-elect him as
3864-497: The campaign. Leslie Hore-Belisha , then a Liberal Party politician who later became a senior Conservative, recorded his impressions of Mosley as a platform orator at this time, claiming that his "dark, aquiline, flashing: tall, thin, assured; defiance in his eye, contempt in his forward chin". Together, Oswald and Cynthia Mosley proved an alluring couple, and many members of the working class in Birmingham succumbed to their charm for, as
3948-525: The death of its domestic industry, Mosley put forward a scheme in the "Mosley Memorandum" that called for high tariffs to protect British industries from international finance and transform the British Empire into an autarkic trading bloc, for state nationalisation of main industries, for higher school-leaving ages and pensions to reduce the labour surplus, and for a programme of public works to solve interwar poverty and unemployment . Furthermore,
4032-467: The decline of the movement's membership. The party was finally banned by the British government on 23 May 1940 after the start of the Second World War, amid suspicion that its remaining supporters might form a pro-Nazi " fifth column ". A number of prominent BUF members were arrested and interned under Defence Regulation 18B . Oswald Mosley was the youngest elected Conservative MP before crossing
4116-632: The defeat of the Confederate States in the American Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment , which abolished slavery. In his final chapter he concludes: "In America we have seen the struggle of the dear races against the cheap—the endeavors of the English to hold their own against the Irish and Chinese. In New Zealand, we found the stronger and more energetic race pushing from
4200-514: The dissolution of the BUF. Towards the middle of the 1930s, the BUF's violent clashes with opponents began to alienate some middle-class supporters, and membership decreased. At the Olympia rally in London, in 1934, BUF stewards violently ejected anti-fascist disrupters, and this led the Daily Mail to withdraw its support for the movement. The level of violence shown at the rally shocked many, with
4284-555: The earth the shrewd and laborious descendants of the Asian Malays; in Australia, the English triumphant, and the cheaper races excluded from the soil not by distance merely, but by arbitrary legislation; in India, we saw the solution of the problem of the officering of the cheaper by the dearer race. Everywhere we have found that the difficulties which impede the progress to universal dominion of
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#17330928409304368-550: The effect of turning neutral parties against the BUF and contributing to anti-fascist support. One observer claimed: "I came to the conclusion that Mosley was a political maniac, and that all decent English people must combine to kill his movement." In Belfast in April 1934 an autonomous wing of the party in Northern Ireland called the "Ulster Fascists" was founded. The branch was a failure and became virtually extinct after less than
4452-526: The ever-increasing globalisation of the world, and thus looked to a modern solution to fix a modern problem. But it was rejected by the Cabinet and by the Parliamentary Labour Party , and in May 1930 Mosley resigned from his ministerial position. At the time, according to Lady Mosley's autobiography, the weekly Liberal -leaning paper The Nation and Athenaeum wrote: "The resignation of Sir Oswald Mosley
4536-502: The family estates seemed to be the best prospect. He was unexpectedly selected for Harrow first. In the general election of 1918 he faced no serious opposition and was elected easily. He was the youngest member of the House of Commons to take his seat, although Joseph Sweeney , an abstentionist Sinn Féin member, was younger. He soon distinguished himself as an orator and political player, one marked by extreme self-confidence, and made
4620-520: The family); a barony was created for Tonman Mosley , brother of the 4th baronet, but also became extinct. After Mosley's parents separated, he was raised by his mother, who went to live at Betton Hall near Market Drayton , and his paternal grandfather, Sir Oswald Mosley, 4th Baronet . Within the family and among intimate friends, he was always called "Tom". He lived for many years at his grandparents' stately home, Apedale Hall in Staffordshire , and
4704-421: The first British fascist movement was founded by a woman, and how the leading lights of the suffragettes had, with Oswald Mosley , founded the BUF. Mosley's electoral strategy had been to prepare for the election after 1935, and in 1936 he announced a list of BUF candidates for that election, with Elam nominated to stand for Northampton. Mosley accompanied Elam to Northampton to introduce her to her electorate at
4788-422: The first time I openly and publicly challenge the Jewish interests of this country, commanding commerce, commanding the Press, commanding the cinema, dominating the City of London, killing industry with their sweat-shops. These great interests are not intimidating, and will not intimidate, the Fascist movement of the modern age." The party was unable to fight the 1935 general election . In October 1936, Mosley and
4872-418: The floor in 1922, joining first Labour and, shortly afterward, the Independent Labour Party . He became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in Ramsay MacDonald 's Labour government , advising on rising unemployment. In 1930, Mosley issued his Mosley Memorandum, which fused protectionism with a proto- Keynesian programme of policies designed to tackle the problem of unemployment, and he resigned from
4956-415: The government was sufficiently concerned to pass the Public Order Act 1936 , which, amongst other things, banned political uniforms and quasi-military style organisations and came into effect on 1 January 1937. In the London County Council elections in 1937, the BUF stood in three wards in East London (some former New Party seats), its strongest areas, polling up to a quarter of the vote. Mosley made most of
5040-401: The headline "Hurrah for the Blackshirts!", was an early supporter. The first Director of Propaganda, appointed in February 1933, was Wilfred Risdon , who was responsible for organising all of Mosley's public meetings. Despite strong resistance from anti-fascists, including the local Jewish community , the Labour Party , the Independent Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain ,
5124-418: The historian Martin Pugh described, "a link with powerful, wealthy and glamorous men and women appealed strongly to those who endured humdrum and deprived lives". It took several re-counts before Chamberlain was declared the winner by 77 votes and Mosley blamed poor weather for the result. His period outside Parliament was used to develop a new economic policy for the ILP, which eventually became known as
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#17330928409305208-435: The injury had fully healed and at the Battle of Loos (1915) passed out at his post from pain. He spent the remainder of the war at desk jobs in the Ministry of Munitions and in the Foreign Office . On 11 May 1920, he married Lady Cynthia "Cimmie" Curzon (1898–1933), second daughter of the 1st Earl Curzon of Kedleston (1859–1925), Viceroy of India 1899–1905, Foreign Secretary 1919–1924, and Lord Curzon's first wife,
5292-553: The latter course". In 1926, the Labour-held seat of Smethwick fell vacant, and Mosley returned to parliament after winning the resulting by-election on 21 December. Mosley felt the campaign was dominated by Conservative attacks on him for being too rich, including claims that he was covering up his wealth. In 1927, he mocked the British Fascists as "black-shirted buffoons, making a cheap imitation of ice-cream sellers". The ILP elected him to Labour's National Executive Committee . Mosley and Cynthia were committed Fabians in
5376-448: The marriage bar that restricted the employment of married women. The BUF also offered support for new mothers (due to concerns of falling birth rates), while also offering effective birth control, as Mosley believed it was not in the national interest to have a populace ignorant of modern scientific knowledge. While these policies were motivated more out of making the best use of women's skills in state interest than any kind of feminism , it
5460-405: The memorandum laid out the foundations of the corporate state which intended to combine businesses, workers and the government into one body as a way to "Obliterate class conflict and make the British economy healthy again". Mosley published this memorandum because of his dissatisfaction with the laissez-faire attitudes held by both Labour and the Conservative party, and their passivity towards
5544-506: The outbreak of the First World War, she joined the Women Police Volunteers , becoming the WPV Commandant in 1920. She met Mosley at the January Club in April 1932, going on to speak at the club following her visit to Germany, "to learn the truth about of the position of German womanhood". The BBC report described how Elam's fascist philosophy grew from her suffragette experiences, how the British fascist movement became largely driven by women, how they targeted young women from an early age, how
5628-480: The party, such as William Joyce and John Beckett , which provoked the resignation of members such as Robert Forgan . This antisemitic emphasis and these high-profile resignations resulted in a significant decline in membership, dropping to below 8,000 by the end of 1935, and, ultimately, Mosley shifted the party's focus back to mainstream politics. There were frequent and continuous violent clashes between BUF party members and anti-fascist protesters, most famously at
5712-448: The point of advocating authoritarianism. He claimed that the UK Labour Party was pursuing policies of "international socialism", while fascism's aim was "national socialism". It claimed membership as high as 50,000, and had the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror among its earliest supporters. The Mirror piece was a guest article by the Daily Mail owner Viscount Rothermere and an apparent one-off; despite these briefly warm words for
5796-655: The post-war era but received very little support. During this period he was an advocate of Pan-European nationalism , developing the Europe a Nation ideology, and was an early proponent of Holocaust denial conspiracy theories. Mosley was born on 16 November 1896 at 47 Hill Street , Mayfair , London. He was the eldest of the three sons of Sir Oswald Mosley, 5th Baronet (1873–1928), and Katharine Maud Edwards-Heathcote (1873–1948), daughter of Captain Justinian Edwards-Heathcote , of Apedale Hall , Staffordshire . He had two younger brothers: Edward Heathcote Mosley (1899–1980) and John Arthur Noel Mosley (1901–1973). His father
5880-423: The seats they held and won none. As the New Party gradually became more radical and authoritarian , many previous supporters defected from it. According to Lady Mosley's autobiography, shortly after the 1931 election Mosley was described by The Manchester Guardian : When Sir Oswald Mosley sat down after his Free Trade Hall speech in Manchester and the audience, stirred as an audience rarely is, rose and swept
5964-485: The theme of "Mind Britain's Business". Mosley remained popular as late as summer 1939. His Britain First rally at the Earls Court Exhibition Hall on 16 July 1939 was the biggest indoor political rally in British history, with a reported 30,000 attendees. British Union of Fascists This is an accepted version of this page The British Union of Fascists ( BUF ) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley . Mosley changed its name to
6048-414: Was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism . He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow from 1918 to 1924 and for Smethwick from 1926 to 1931. He founded the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932 and led it until its forced disbandment in 1940. After military service during
6132-681: Was a third cousin to the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne , father of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother . The progenitor, and earliest-attested ancestor, of the Mosley family was Ernald de Mosley ( fl. 12th century), Lord of the Manor of Moseley, Staffordshire, during the reign of King John . The family were prominent landholders in Staffordshire and seated at Rolleston Hall , near Burton upon Trent . Three baronetcies were created, two of which are now extinct (see Mosley baronets for further history of
6216-408: Was a very able document and illuminating". Keynes also wrote, "I like the spirit which informs the document. A scheme of national economic planning to achieve a right, or at least a better, balance of our industries between the old and the new, between agriculture and manufacture, between home development and foreign investment; and wide executive powers to carry out the details of such a scheme. That
6300-400: Was a whole generation ahead of Labour thinking." As his book, The Greater Britain , focused on the issues of free trade, the criticisms against globalisation that he formulated can be found in critiques of contemporary globalisation. He warns nations that buying cheaper goods from other nations may seem appealing but ultimately ravage domestic industry and lead to large unemployment, as seen in
6384-572: Was commissioned into the British cavalry unit the 16th The Queen's Lancers and fought in France on the Western Front . He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot and air observer , but while demonstrating in front of his mother and sister he crashed, which left him with a permanent limp, as well as a reputation for being brave and somewhat reckless. He returned to the trenches before
6468-418: Was confirmed. He wound up the New Party in April, but preserved its youth movement, which would form the core of the BUF, intact. He spent the summer that year writing a fascist programme, The Greater Britain , and this formed the basis of policy of the BUF, which was launched on 1 October 1932 at 12 Great George Street in London. The BUF claimed 50,000 members at one point, and the Daily Mail , running
6552-531: Was disavowed in 1966, and the GBM was dissolved with Tyndall calling on its members to join the recently-formed National Front . Duncan Bell has identified three principal meanings during this period: The discourse was initiated by Charles Wentworth Dilke with the publication of Greater Britain: A Record of Travel in English-Speaking Countries During 1866-7 . The racist nature of Dilke's endeavour
6636-480: Was educated at West Downs School and Winchester College . Mosley was a fencing champion in his school days; he won titles in both foil and sabre , and retained an enthusiasm for the sport throughout his life. In January 1914, Mosley entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , but was expelled in June for a "riotous act of retaliation" against a fellow student. During the First World War , he
6720-672: Was frequently involved in violent confrontations and riots, particularly with communist and Jewish groups and especially in London. At a large Mosley rally at Olympia on 7 June 1934, his bodyguards' violence caused bad publicity. This and the Night of the Long Knives in Germany led to the loss of most of the BUF's mass support. Nevertheless, Mosley continued espousing anti-Semitism . At one of his New Party meetings in Leicester in April 1935, he said, "For
6804-608: Was his great contribution to fascism." It also gained the endorsement of the Daily Mail newspaper, headed at the time by Harold Harmsworth (later created 1st Viscount Rothermere). The New Party increasingly inclined to fascist policies, but Mosley was denied the opportunity to get his party established when during the Great Depression the 1931 general election was suddenly called—the party's candidates, including Mosley himself running in Stoke which had been held by his wife, lost
6888-509: Was placed in a Holloway Prison cell with Emmeline Pankhurst for her involvement with the suffragette movement, and, in 1940, she was returned to the same prison with Diana Mosley , this time for her involvement with the fascist movement. Another leading suffragette, Mary Richardson , became head of the women's section of the BUF. Mary Sophia Allen OBE was a former branch leader of the West of England Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). At
6972-661: Was sufficiently concerned by the party's growing prominence to pass the Public Order Act 1936 , which banned political uniforms and required police consent for political marches. In 1937, William Joyce and other Nazi sympathisers split from the party to form the National Socialist League , which quickly folded, with most of its members interned . Mosley later denounced Joyce as a traitor and condemned him for his extreme antisemitism. The historian Stephen Dorril revealed in his book Blackshirts that secret envoys from
7056-459: Was vouchsafed with an opening comment in the Preface: "The idea which in all the length of my travels has been at once my fellow and my guide—a key wherewith to unlock the hidden things of strange new lands—is a conception, however imperfect, of the grandeur of our race, already girding the earth, which it is destined, perhaps, eventually to overspread". Dilke oscillates between eulogising the English and
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