Oswald Mosley

SIR OSWALD MOSLEY d1980. English politician known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). He was MP for Harrow from 1918-1924, for Smethwick 1926-1931 and Chancellor of The Duchy of Lancaster in the 1929-31 Labour Government ; a position he resigned due to his disagreement with the Labour Government's unemployment policies. He then formed the New Party which merged with the BUF (which included the Blackshirts) in 1932. Although relatively well-funded, Mosley often overemphasized intellectual fine points that appealed only to a few voters, opposed free trade and associated closely with Nazi Germany. He was interned in 1940 and the BUF was proscribed. He was released in 1943 and politically disillusioned with Britain he moved abroad in 1951 ; spending most of the remainder of his life in France. He died aged 84 in 1980