Oswald Mosley

Oswald Mosley was a British politician who rose to fame in the 1920s and 1930s as a member of parliament and a founder of the British Union of Fascists. He was born into a wealthy and aristocratic family and served in the First World War as a lieutenant in the 16th Lancers and the Royal Flying Corps. He entered politics as a Conservative MP for Harrow in 1918, but soon became disillusioned with the party and switched to Labour in 1924. He was appointed as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Labour government of 1929-1931, but resigned over his disagreement with the government's economic policies. He then formed his own party, the New Party, which later evolved into the British Union of Fascists in 1932. Mosley was influenced by the fascist movements of Italy and Germany and advocated for a strong authoritarian state, corporatism, nationalism, and antisemitism. He organized rallies and marches in uniformed blackshirts, which often resulted in violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters, such as the Battle of Cable Street in 1936. He also sought alliances with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and married Diana Mitford, a prominent supporter of Nazism, in a secret ceremony in Berlin in 1936. During the Second World War, Mosley was interned under Defence Regulation 18B along with other prominent fascists. He was released in 1943 on health grounds and spent most of the rest of his life in exile in France. He attempted to revive his political career after the war by forming the Union Movement, which advocated for a united Europe under a fascist regime. He also joined the National Party of Europe, a coalition of neo-fascist parties from different countries. However, he failed to gain much support or influence and was widely shunned by the public and the media. He died of a heart attack in 1980 at his home in Orsay, near Paris. He is widely regarded as one of the most notorious and controversial figures in British political history.