Whom was Oswald Mosely and why did he think he could become an MP, let alone PM?

Question

Side question - was the TV series about it ever good?

Answer 1

He was an English aristocrat, who formed a fascist party in England in the late 1930`s. He spent a lot of time in the East end of London, trying to convert discontented workers over to fascism, his party were known as the `black shirts` because of the `uniform ` they wore. He stirred up trouble in the East End for the Jewish people and there was often fighting , and a lot of damage done to Jewish peoples` premises. During the war he was imprisoned because of his `love` of Hitler. He was married to Nancy Mitford who was one of the `fashionable` aristocratic ladies of the time she was also a Nazi sympathiser. Hitler was very happy to wine and dine the pair when they visited Germany just before the war,he thought as they were of `noble` birth, they would add credence to his political party. Many people after the war, thought that he should have been tried for treason, he certainly lost his creditability with his fellow aristocrats and was a very different man when he was released from prison, after the war. He never again had any political power and was greatly disliked.He died I believe in the 1980`s.
My Grandmother Katherine used to talk about him a lot, she lived in the East End of London, and witnessed his `mob` of black shirts marching through the streets and throwing bricks through the windows of Jewish people. There were a lot of Jews living near to her house and people like her were just as frightened of the maraudering fascists as the Jews were. They would stop outside the house and using loud speakers would yell for the Jews to come out of their houses. They had lists of the names of them and would threaten them by name. Katherine said that Mosley was a very charasmatic man, and a good oratator, but she claimed he was a very evil and cruel man.
The reason he thought that he would be Prime Minister, was because he thought Hitler would win the war, and England would then become a fascist state under Hitler, who would make Mosley Prime Minister.

Answer 2

Sir Oswald Mosley MP was a member of the Labour Party of the 1930s. He broke away from Labour to found his own political party. He recruited thousands of ruffians called 'The Blackshirts' and formed the first 'Nazi' style party here in UK. If you visit Cable Street in the East End of London, you can see a mural there depicting his and his Blackshirt's defeat by the Cockneys in a series of street battles. Mosley was imprisoned during the war. I saw him on TV a couple of times in the 1960s.

Mosley is dead.

Answer 3

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British politician known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists. He was also the sixth baronet of a title established in 1720.

More info on the site below:

Answer 4

Oswald Mosely was married to Diana Mitford not Nancy Mitford. Although he founded the British Union of Fascists it was Diana and not Mosely himself who was a friend of Hitler, along with her sister Unity. The Moselys were both imprisoned during the 2nd Word War and, upon their release, moved to France. They lived in Paris until their deaths, Diana being one of those who died during the heatwave a few years ago.

Answer 5

He was a Labour MP at one time. But he was always very keen on violence - in his election campaign he said 'I want you to give the Government a punch on the jaw.' He split from the party over his plans to get the country out of the depression - he was right in this case, as most economists agree. First he started the New Party, which then became the British Union of Fascists. Its emblem was a flash of lightning in a roundel, which led to gibes that it represented a 'flash in the pan'.

Answer 6

When my grandfather was landlord of a public house in the 1930s, one of his neighbours was a Blackshirt, and used to drink on his premises. My grandfather was a true Englishman who had no time for extreme politics, and had served in the Boer War and then, as a Sergeant-Major, in WW1, when he was wounded and decorated for bravery in the trenches. One night this buffoon entered his premises wearing his black shirt. and my grandfather immediately sent him home to get changed, explaining that he was welcome to drink in his pub, but must never come back wearing his Mosley uniform.

Answer 7

His heart was with home rule for IRELAND.
Check out RON /and his link.(above to wikipedia)
Mr O.Mosley was a traitor and wrongly enchanted with nazism.

Answer 8

Who. He was somebody who thought he could do the same as Hitler, but in this country. Silly man.

Answer 9

he was the british equivilent of adolf hitler and the nazis party in the 30s.he had many supporters but was kept in check by the establishment.