British Peoples Party (1940s)
Encyclopedia
The British People's Party (BPP) was a British
far right
political party founded in 1939 and led by ex-British Union of Fascists
(BUF) member and Labour Party
Member of Parliament John Beckett.
(NSL), English Array and League of Loyalists. The main crux of this publication was opposition to war with Nazi Germany
, although it also endorsed fascism
and anti-Semitism
. The proprietor of this journal was Viscount Lymington
, a strong opponent of war with Germany
. Others involved in its production included A.K. Chesterton and the anthropologist George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, whilst individual members, especially Lymington, were close to ruralist Rolf Gardiner
.
in 1939 after Joyce intimated to the patriotic
Beckett that were war to Break out between Britain and Germany he would fight for the Nazis
. This, along with a feeling that Joyce virulent anti-Semitism was hamstringing the NSL, led Beckett to link up with Lord Tavistock
, the heir to the Duke of Bedford
, in founding the British People's Party in 1939.. The new party supported an immediate end to the Second World War
, and was vehemently opposed to usury
, calling to mind some of the economic policies of Hilaire Belloc
. The group also brought in elements of Social Credit
, as Lord Tavistock had been a sometime activist in the Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
.
The party was controlled by an executive committee consisting of Tavistock as Chairman, Beckett as secretary and ex-Labour Party candidate Ben Greene
(a noted pacifist, anti-semite and member of the Peace Pledge Union
) as treasurer, with Viscount Lymington
and former left-wing journalist John Scanlon also added. Other early members of the party included Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket
, Richard St. Barbe Baker
, Sydney Arnold, 1st Baron Arnold
, Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch and Walter Erskine, 12th Earl of Mar.
in Hythe, Kent
in 1939. The campaign for the Hythe by-election, 1939, in which former Labour Party
member St. John Philby
was the candidate, was fought on an anti-war platform. Despite gaining the public support of the likes of Sir Barry Domvile
, leader of The Link
, the campaign was not a success and Philby was unable to retain his deposit
.
-led initiatives to forge closer links between the disparate groups on the far right, although in private Oswald Mosley
had a low opinion of the BPP, dismissing Beckett as a "crook", Tavistock as "woolly headed" and Greene as "not very intelligent". Beckett's internment under Defence Regulation 18B
in 1940 saw the party go into hibernation, although it was not subject to any government ban. The patronage of Lord Tavistock, who succeeded to the Duchy of Bedford in 1940, ensured that the BPP was exempted from proscription. The group was briefly involved in a clandestine alliance with Chesterton's National Front After Victory in 1944, a group that also attracted the interest of J.F.C. Fuller
, Henry Williamson
, Jeffrey Hamm
, William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield
and Lymington (who had succeeded his father as Earl of Portsmouth
in the meantime) amongst others. However the movement was scuppered when it was infiltrated by the Board of Deputies of British Jews
who fed information to Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart
, whose speech about the dangers of a revival of fascism led to a crackdown on such movements.
. Before long the BPP returned to wider activity after the war when party policy focused on monetary reform
and the promotion of agriculture. With the Union Movement
not appearing until 1948 the BPP initially attracted some new members, including Colin Jordan
, who was invited to join in 1946 and was associated with the group for a time before concentrating his efforts on the more hardline Arnold Leese
. The party contested the Combined English Universities by-election
on 18 March 1946 but received only 239 votes. The BPP officially disbanded in 1954.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
political party founded in 1939 and led by ex-British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
(BUF) member and Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Member of Parliament John Beckett.
Origins
The BPP had its roots in the journal New Pioneer, edited by John Beckett and effectively the mouthpiece of the British Council Against European Commitments, a co-ordinating body involving the National Socialist LeagueNational Socialist League
The National Socialist League was a short lived Nazi political movement in the United Kingdom immediately before the Second World War.-Formation:...
(NSL), English Array and League of Loyalists. The main crux of this publication was opposition to war with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, although it also endorsed fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. The proprietor of this journal was Viscount Lymington
Gerard Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth
Gerard Vernon Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth , styled Viscount Lymington from 1925 until 1943, was a British landowner, writer on agricultural topics, and politician.-Early life:...
, a strong opponent of war with Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Others involved in its production included A.K. Chesterton and the anthropologist George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, whilst individual members, especially Lymington, were close to ruralist Rolf Gardiner
Rolf Gardiner
Henry Rolf Gardiner was an English rural revivalist and sympathizer with Nazism. He was founder of groups significant in the British history of organic farming, as well being a participant in inter-war far right politics.-Early life:...
.
Policy and structure
Beckett split from his NSL ally William JoyceWilliam Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
in 1939 after Joyce intimated to the patriotic
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
Beckett that were war to Break out between Britain and Germany he would fight for the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. This, along with a feeling that Joyce virulent anti-Semitism was hamstringing the NSL, led Beckett to link up with Lord Tavistock
Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford
Hastings William Sackville Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford MA , nicknamed Spinach Tavistock, was the son of Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford....
, the heir to the Duke of Bedford
Duke of Bedford
thumb|right|240px|William Russell, 1st Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedford is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 in favour of Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of France. He was made Earl of Kendal at the same time...
, in founding the British People's Party in 1939.. The new party supported an immediate end to the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and was vehemently opposed to usury
Usury
Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...
, calling to mind some of the economic policies of Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
. The group also brought in elements of Social Credit
Social Credit
Social Credit is an economic philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas , a British engineer, who wrote a book by that name in 1924. Social Credit is described by Douglas as "the policy of a philosophy"; he called his philosophy "practical Christianity"...
, as Lord Tavistock had been a sometime activist in the Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was a political party in the United Kingdom. It grew out of the Kibbo Kift, which was established in 1920 as a more craft-based alternative for youth to the Boy Scouts....
.
The party was controlled by an executive committee consisting of Tavistock as Chairman, Beckett as secretary and ex-Labour Party candidate Ben Greene
Ben Greene
Ben Greene was a British Labour Party politician and pacifist. He was interned during World War II because of his fascist associations and appealed his detention to the House of Lords. In the leading case of Liversidge v...
(a noted pacifist, anti-semite and member of the Peace Pledge Union
Peace Pledge Union
The Peace Pledge Union is a British pacifist non-governmental organization. It is open to everyone who can sign the PPU pledge: "I renounce war, and am therefore determined not to support any kind of war...
) as treasurer, with Viscount Lymington
Gerard Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth
Gerard Vernon Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth , styled Viscount Lymington from 1925 until 1943, was a British landowner, writer on agricultural topics, and politician.-Early life:...
and former left-wing journalist John Scanlon also added. Other early members of the party included Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket
Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket
Ronald Nall Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom....
, Richard St. Barbe Baker
Richard St. Barbe Baker
Richard St. Barbe Baker was an English forester, environmental activist and author, who contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. As a leader, he founded an organization, still active today, whose many chapters carry out reforestation internationally.-Early years:He was born in...
, Sydney Arnold, 1st Baron Arnold
Sydney Arnold, 1st Baron Arnold
Sydney Arnold, 1st Baron Arnold was a British Liberal Party politician who later joined the Labour Party and served as a government minister....
, Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch and Walter Erskine, 12th Earl of Mar.
Activities
The party's activities were generally limited to meetings, the publication of a journal, The People's Post and the contesting of a single by-electionBy-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in Hythe, Kent
Hythe, Kent
Hythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....
in 1939. The campaign for the Hythe by-election, 1939, in which former Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
member St. John Philby
St. John Philby
Harry St John Bridger Philby CIE , also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah , his Arabic name, was an Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence officer...
was the candidate, was fought on an anti-war platform. Despite gaining the public support of the likes of Sir Barry Domvile
Barry Domvile
Admiral Sir Barry Edward Domvile KBE CB CMG was a distinguished Royal Navy officer who turned into a leading British Pro-German anti-Semite in the years before the Second World War....
, leader of The Link
The Link (organisation)
The Link was established in July 1937 as an 'independent non-party organisation to promote Anglo-German friendship'. It generally operated as a cultural organisation, although its journal, the Anglo-German Review reflected the pro-Nazi views of Admiral Sir Barry Domvile, and particularly in London...
, the campaign was not a success and Philby was unable to retain his deposit
Deposit (politics)
A deposit is a sum of money that a candidate must pay in return for the right to stand for election to certain political offices, particularly seats in legislatures.-United Kingdom:...
.
During the war
After the outbreak of the Second World War the BP was involved in British Union of FascistsBritish Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
-led initiatives to forge closer links between the disparate groups on the far right, although in private Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
had a low opinion of the BPP, dismissing Beckett as a "crook", Tavistock as "woolly headed" and Greene as "not very intelligent". Beckett's internment under Defence Regulation 18B
Defence Regulation 18B
Defence Regulation 18B, often referred to as simply 18B, was the most famous of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during World War II. The complete technical reference name for this rule was: Regulation 18B of the Defence Regulations 1939. It allowed for the internment of...
in 1940 saw the party go into hibernation, although it was not subject to any government ban. The patronage of Lord Tavistock, who succeeded to the Duchy of Bedford in 1940, ensured that the BPP was exempted from proscription. The group was briefly involved in a clandestine alliance with Chesterton's National Front After Victory in 1944, a group that also attracted the interest of J.F.C. Fuller
J.F.C. Fuller
Major-General John Frederick Charles Fuller, CB, CBE, DSO was a British Army officer, military historian and strategist, notable as an early theorist of modern armoured warfare, including categorising principles of warfare...
, Henry Williamson
Henry Williamson
Henry William Williamson was an English naturalist, farmer and prolific author known for his natural and social history novels. He won the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 with his book Tarka the Otter....
, Jeffrey Hamm
Jeffrey Hamm
Edward Jeffrey Hamm was a leading British Fascist and supporter of Oswald Mosley.Born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, he came into contact with the British Union of Fascists during a family trip to London and joined in 1935 when he relocated to London although initially, due to his youth, his role in the...
, William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield
William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield
William Richard Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield GBE, CH , known as Sir William Morris, Bt, between 1929 and 1934 and as The Lord Nuffield between 1934 and 1938, was a British motor manufacturer and philanthropist...
and Lymington (who had succeeded his father as Earl of Portsmouth
Earl of Portsmouth
Earl of Portsmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1743 for John Wallop, 1st Viscount Lymington, who had previously represented Hampshire in the House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Wallop, of Farleigh Wallop in Hampshire in the County of Southampton,...
in the meantime) amongst others. However the movement was scuppered when it was infiltrated by the Board of Deputies of British Jews
Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews is the main representative body of British Jews. Founded in 1760 as a joint committee of the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish communities in London, it has since become a widely recognised forum for the views of the different sectors of the UK Jewish...
who fed information to Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart
Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart
Robert Gilbert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart GCB, GCMG, PC, MVO was a senior British diplomat in the period before and during the Second World War...
, whose speech about the dangers of a revival of fascism led to a crackdown on such movements.
Final years
The BPP name was heard again in 1945 when the party organised an unsuccessful petition for clemency for Beckett's former ally William Joyce, who was executed for treasonTreason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
. Before long the BPP returned to wider activity after the war when party policy focused on monetary reform
Monetary reform
Monetary reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying money and financing the economy from the current system.Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:...
and the promotion of agriculture. With the Union Movement
Union Movement
The Union Movement was a right-wing political party founded in Britain by Oswald Mosley. Where Mosley had previously been associated with a peculiarly British form of fascism, the Union Movement attempted to redefine the concept by stressing the importance of developing a European nationalism...
not appearing until 1948 the BPP initially attracted some new members, including Colin Jordan
Colin Jordan
John Colin Campbell Jordan was a leading figure in postwar Neo-Nazism in Britain. In the far-right nationalist circles of the 1960s, Jordan represented the most explicitly 'Nazi' inclination in his open use of the styles and symbols of the Third Reich.Through organisations such as the National...
, who was invited to join in 1946 and was associated with the group for a time before concentrating his efforts on the more hardline Arnold Leese
Arnold Leese
Arnold Spencer Leese was a British veterinarian and fascist politician. He was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England and educated at Giggleswick School....
. The party contested the Combined English Universities by-election
Combined English Universities by-election, 1946
The Combined English Universities by-election, 1946 was a parliamentary by-election held on 18 March 1946 for the British House of Commons constituency of Combined English Universities....
on 18 March 1946 but received only 239 votes. The BPP officially disbanded in 1954.