Who was Sir Oswald Mosley?



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Sam Claflin as Sir Oswald Mosley in Peaky Blinders

Legend

Sam Claflin as Sir Oswald Mosley in Peaky Blinders

Last night, fans of Peaky Blinders met the last villain of the gangster drama – a fictional version of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley. He is the one with the biggest blame, who pushed Tommy Shelby, the band leader, to become a deputy, and said to him, worryingly, "You caught my attention."

He gave me goose bumps. Adrien Brody was rather threatening as a villain of the last series. But this guy …

He also scared a lot of people in real life.

In the 1930s, Mosley led the virulently anti-Semitic fascist movement in Britain, whose streetfighters – known as black shirts – were known for their violence against Jews and their leftist opponents. He was on good terms with Mussolini. And Hitler was the guest of honor of his second marriage.

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Oh, and this marriage took place at the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

And now I thought that Brummie gangsters, handling the razor, were terrifying.

The British authorities definitely considered Mosley a threat. During the Second World War, he was interned as a sympathizer of the alleged enemy. At the time, it was widely accepted that if the Nazis had invaded the UK successfully, he would have been installed at the head of the German puppet regime.

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Sir Oswald Mosley and his second wife, Diana Mitford, in 1947

Everyone knows the German Nazis and the Italian fascists. British fascists … not so much. What kind of background did he come from?

"In the 1920s, he was a fashionable figure," says Stephen Dorril, biographer of Mosley. Born into an aristocratic family, Mosley was a fencing champion who distinguished himself during the First World War and was elected Conservative MP for Harrow at age 21. He married the daughter of a count. "He was invited to many parties, he knew Churchill, he knew all the politicians, a huge skater, he was very tall for the time, even if he was limping. said Dorril.

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So he started as a conservative. How did he find himself so far right?

In fact, after leaving the Conservatives, he became a Labor politician – the member for Smethwick, in the print of Tommy Shelby in the West Midlands. After the 1929 accident, he became a government minister charged with finding ways to solve the unemployment problem, but his proposals were rejected. Mosley could not accept that, Dorril said. "He was incredibly selfish, he thought he was the man he needed, he thought he had the solution." It was at that time that he set up the New Party, which held meetings under the leadership of "biff boys". Then, after visiting Mussolini's Italy, Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932, blending his economic agenda with explicit anti-Semitism.

And it was really popular … in the UK?

He had limited success for a time. At one point, the BUF claimed 50,000 members. Viscount Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail, famously wrote a 1934 article entitled "Long live the black shirts!" The BUF has also elected a handful of councilors.

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You said that black shirts were violent towards Jews. What did they do?

There was a rally at the London Olympia in 1934, during which they brutally attacked the rowdy crowd, whether they were leftists or Jews. Mosley also attempted to organize a march in a Jewish neighborhood in East London, culminating in the famous "Battle of Cable Street", in which locals and antifascists blocked the path of black shirts. Although the number of BUF members has increased as a result of Cable Street, Dorril says that in general, "the British do not like people parading in uniform". In fact, the 1936 law and order law prohibited political uniform.

The war had to end his political career …

Rather. Most Britons viewed the Second World War as a war against fascism, and Mosley's internment met with little opposition. After the war, he tried to revive his party – soon renamed Union Movement – without much success. He left the country in 1951. Eight years later, following the race riots in Notting Hill, he ran for the Kensington North elections. on an anti-immigration platform, but failed to break through. After failing again in the 1966 general election, also in a London constituency, he retired to France. He died in 1980.

So, does it have any relevance today? Other than appearing in Peaky Blinders?

Dorril thinks that Mosley would have welcomed the recent rise of populism, but he would not have approved the Brexit: "He would have been shocked that Britain is leaving Europe," he said. After the Second World War, Mosley began to promote the idea of ​​a "Europe, a nation". Mosley shows that the far right has had some appeal in the past in the UK – but his biographer says that Mosley was never in danger of gaining power: "It is clear that he was an outstanding speaker, but it never resulted in a real mbad movement I think it's always been doomed to failure, fortunately. "

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