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Abstract
Duncan Sandys formed the British Movement to propagate a progressive form of constitutional Conservatism, which was meant to ‘reform’ the National government and neutralise Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF). The ambiguous nature of its propaganda was meant to appeal to would-be fascists, as well as national-minded Conservatives. Constituency responses to the British Movement reveal why it was always unlikely that Conservatives would desert the party en masse for the BUF, even before the outcry over Olympia. Sandys, like Mosley, was genuinely moved by the distressed areas and unemployment, and yet was also ambitious in his attempts to exploit such issues to achieve political power and influence. Unlike Mosley, however, Sandys remained loyal to the parliamentary system of government and offered sufficient conditional loyalty to the Conservative Party not to jeopardise all hope of future career advancement. The British Movement represented an internal strategy in the party game rather than an attempt to break the mould.
Notes
[1] I would like to thank John Drinkwater, Jon Lawrence and Philip Morgan for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article, Steven Fielding for making me aware of important information in the Ramsay MacDonald Papers, and the participants and conveners of the New Party Conference at the University of Reading for facilitating interesting discussions of interwar British politics that influenced me when writing the final draft.
[2] CitationWorley, ‘A Call to Action’, 236–55.
[3] Between the setting up of the British Movement in April and its fading away in late 1934, historians agree that the BUF enjoyed its most successful period in terms of membership and publicity. After the violence of the Olympia meeting of 7 June 1934, it is accepted that the movement collapsed as a national force, turning towards regional populist campaigns following the loss of Lord Rothermere and the Daily Mail. For example, see CitationThurlow, Fascism, 72–3.
[4] CitationPugh, Hurrah for the Blackshirts, 315.
[5] CitationWilliamson, Stanley Baldwin.
[6] Lord Duncan Sandys Papers (DSND), Anonymous press cutting, c. 1935.
[7] Sir William Wayland MP, speaking at the annual meeting of the East Kent Group of the Junior Imperial League. See DSND, Kentish Gazette, c. November 1936.
[8] DSND, Morning Post, c. November 1936.
[9] DSND, News Chronicle, 18 June 1936.
[10] DSND, Undated press cutting, c. 1935–39.
[11] DSND, Brixton Free Press, c. 1935–39.
[12] DSND, Anonymous Press Cutting, 28 October 1936.
[13] D. Sandys, National Review, August 1934, 215.
[14] D. Sandys, National Review, August 1934, 215
[15] D. Sandys, National Review, August 1934, 215, 218.
[16] D. Sandys, National Review, August 1934, 215, 218–9.
[17] CitationGriffiths, Fellow Travellers, 21–5.
[18] Christopher Fuller Papers (CFP), British Movement pamphlet and confidential circular, 4, 1196/56.
[19] CFP, British Movement pamphlet and confidential circular, 5, 1196/56.
[20] CFP, British Movement pamphlet and confidential circular, 10.
[21] CFP, 20 March 1934.
[22] CFP, Letter to Fuller, 12 April 1934.
[23] For Conservative attitudes to the forming of the National government, see CitationWilliamson, National Crisis.
[24] CFP, Letter to Fuller, 17 April 1934.
[25] CFP, Sandys to Fuller, 27 July 1934.
[26] National Review, July 1934, 31.
[27] CFP, Letter to Fuller, 5 April 1934.
[28] CFP, Letter to Fuller, 22 March 1934.
[29] CFP, Letter to Fuller, 5 April 1934.
[30] CFP, Letter to Fuller, 25 April 1934.
[31] CFP, Sandys to Stonehaven, 27 July 1934.
[32] CFP, Stonehaven to Sandys, undated but c. July 1934.
[33] CFP, Letter to Fuller, 22 March 1934.
[34] Bodleian Library, MS, Macmillan, British Movement pamphlet, dep. c.85, fols.43.
[35] CitationWebber, Ideology of the British Right, 36.
[36] Amery Papers, Leo Amery Diary, 23 July 1934, AMEL 7/28.
[37] See CitationRitschel, The Politics of Planning.
[38] MS, Macmillan, General Secretary of the British Movement to Harold Macmillan, c. July 1934, dep. c.85, fols.41.
[39] Daily Herald, 23 February 1935.
[40] Sunday Dispatch, 24 February 1935.
[41] Although Sandys removed his file on the British Movement, its entry in the catalogue remains. It states: DSND 1/6, Papers relating to the British Movement (incl. Lloyd Meetings), dated September 1933–December 1934. A poster titled ‘The Movement’, identical to British Movement propaganda, can be found in Lloyd's papers in the Churchill Archives Centre, GLLD 17/37/115.
[42] National Review, July 1934, 30.
[43] Daily Telegraph, 27 February 1935. The press reported that Sandys’ views on India did not affect his selection by the local Conservative Association.
[44] National Review, July 1934, 31.
[45] CitationThurlow, Fascism, 70.
[46] For a similar interpretation of the January Club, see CitationGriffiths, Fellow Travellers, 50–1.
[47] James Ramsay MacDonald Papers, Sandys Memorandum, December 1934, 7, PRO 30/69/1181.
[48] James Ramsay MacDonald Papers, Sandys Memorandum, December 1934, 3.
[49] CitationBarnes, Empire at Bay, 301.
[50] Leo Amery Diary, 23 January 1934, AMEL 7/28. Sandys informed Amery he was anxious to be considered for the Guildford division. Amery wrote him references for Central Office.
[51] See for example The Daily Express, Morning Post and Yorkshire Post, 14 February 1935; CitationCrowson, Fleet Street, 86.
[52] CitationCrowson, Fleet Street, 89.
[53] The Times, 23 February 1935.
[54] Sunday Dispatch, 24 February 1935.
[55] Daily Express, 12 March 1935.
[56] CitationReynolds, Britannia Overruled, 198.