What Happened to Oswald Mosley after the British Union of Fascists?
There are five important aspects of Post War Fascism and Oswald Mosley. It will be easier for your revision if you learn within these 5 areas as they are what questions are most likely to be on.
- Defence Regulation 18B
- Internment on the Isle of Man
- Imprisonment in HM Prison Holloway
- Release from Prison
- Mosley and Politics after his release
Defence Regulation 18B.
What was Defence regulation 18B ?
Defence Regulation 18B gave the Home Secretary, John Anderson, could intern people indefinitely without detailed charges or without trail. It suspended people right of Habeas Corpus, where people can report their unlawful detainment or imprisonment. Essentially, the aim of 18B was to intern anyone they saw as being in an alliance with the Nazi’s. Naturally, being Right Wing, the leading and predominant members British Union of Fascists were interned.
Who was Interned under defence regulation 18B?
There is a long list of detainee’s, none of which you will be expected to know by name but those interned tended to have strong leadership roles within the BUF. It is important to remember that not every fascist in Britain was interned, just the key ones were targeted. Those who were interned under the act were put into Internment Camps which were especially established to house anyone who was a ‘threat’, Suprisingly these were quite close to home, with one being the Isle of Man, in between England and Ireland and some even in unfinished housing complex’s such as those in Hyton, Liverpool.
Internment on the Isle of Man
Oswald Mosley was interned on the Isle of Man, a small island between England and Ireland. This is where many Prisoners of War would later be detained by the Government during the Second World War. Before this, mainly members or associates with the British Union of Fascists were detained there. There were two main camps, one at Knockaloe Farm and one at Port Erin, mainly women were detained in the latter.
Internment in HM Holloway Prison, London.
After imprisonment in the internment camp, the Mosley’s were transferred to Holloway Prison, an adult women and youth offenders prison in London, which housed Lady Mosley and Oswald Mosley until they were released in November 1943. The Mosley’s were not kept with the general population but had their own house on the grounds separate from the general prison population, with privileges such as the ability to exercise outside not within the set times and the ability to write freely.
Release from Prison
In General, people of Britain were angered at the news of the release of the Mosley’s from Prison. Check out this petition made to put them both back in Prison. Fascism was strongly the enemy of the Second World War and as a result, there was little sympathy towards the people who has attempted to bring Fascism into Britain. Find out more about the interworking’s of the decision to release the Mosley’s here.
Politics after Prison and the (apparent) demise of Fascism
Mosley continued in politics, standing in the 1959 General election with policies against immigration, mixed marriage and Caribbean migrants, winning 7.6% of the vote. He returned again in the 1966 General Election gaining 4.6% of the vote, with people of Britain clearly steering away from extremist race policies following the changes the 1960’s brought. After this failure, Mosley retired to France to write his Biography “My Life”.
After Second World War, fascism in general began to disappear in Europe and the rest of the world. Arguably, the rise of Fascism was a product of the specific circumstances created by the aftermath of the First World War, a tragedy on a scale never seen before. Because of this, Fascism died as quickly as it rose, with post Second World War politics in Britain focusing on Labour and the rise of the Welfare State. Some may argue that there has been a resurgence of Fascism in the recent era with the election of extreme right wing candidates such as Donald Trump, Angela Merckel and Marie Le Pen finishing a close second to Macron in France, 2017.
References:
Goldman, A., Defence Regulation 18B: Emergency internment of Aliens and Political Dissenters in Great Britain During World War Two, Journal of British Studies, 12.2, (1973), pp.120-136.
Shepard, P., Arrested for being a (British Union) traitor, WW2 People’s War, <https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/84/a1144784.shtml>, Acsessed February 6th 2019.
Leach, G., A Visit to the Isle of Man Internment Camps, The Guardian, (July 2016).
Connolly, C., What Happened to the Children of Oswald Mosley’s Followers, The Telegraph, (June 2018)
Barberis, P, McHugh, J, Tyldesley, M., Encyvlopedis of British adn Irish Political Organisations, (Continuum International Publishing Group; London, 2005) p.194
Written By Abigail Lloyd.
British Union of Fascists 