British People's Party | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | BPP |
| Leader | John Beckett |
| Chairperson | Lord Tavistock |
| Founder | John Beckett, Lord Tavistock |
| Founded | 1939 |
| Dissolved | 1954 |
| Split from | British Union of Fascists |
| Newspaper | The People's Post |
| Ideology | British fascism Ultranationalism Social credit Pacifism |
| Political position | Far-right |
TheBritish People's Party (BPP) was a Britishfar-right political party founded in 1939 and led by ex-British Union of Fascists (BUF) member andLabour Party Member of ParliamentJohn Beckett.
The BPP had its roots in the journalNew Pioneer, edited by John Beckett and effectively the mouthpiece of theBritish Council Against European Commitments, a co-ordinating body involving theNational Socialist League (NSL),English Array andLeague of Loyalists. The main crux of this publication was opposition to war withNazi Germany, although it also endorsedfascism andanti-Semitism.[1] The proprietor of this journal wasViscount Lymington, a strong opponent of war with Germany.[2] Others involved in its production includedA. K. Chesterton and the anthropologistGeorge Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, whilst individual members, especially Lymington, were close to ruralistRolf Gardiner.[3]
Beckett split from his NSL allyWilliam Joyce in 1939 after Joyce intimated to thepatriotic Beckett that were war to break out between Britain and Germany he would fight for theNazis. This, along with a feeling that Joyce's virulent anti-Semitism was hamstringing the NSL, led Beckett to link up withLord Tavistock, the heir to theDuke of Bedford, in founding the British People's Party in 1939.[4] The new party supported an immediate end to theSecond World War, and was vehemently opposed tousury, calling to mind some of the economic policies ofHilaire Belloc.[5] The group also brought in elements ofSocial Credit, as Lord Tavistock had been an activist in theSocial Credit Party.[6]
The party was controlled by an executive committee consisting of Tavistock as Chairman, Beckett as secretary and ex-Labour Party candidateBen Greene (a notedpacifist and member of thePeace Pledge Union) as treasurer, withLord Lymington and former left-wing journalist John Scanlon also added.[6] Other early members of the party includedRonald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket,Richard St. Barbe Baker,Sydney Arnold, 1st Baron Arnold,Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch andWalter Erskine, 12th Earl of Mar.[7]
The party's activities were generally limited to meetings, the publication of a journal,The People's Post and the contesting of a singleby-election inHythe, Kent in 1939. The campaign for the1939 Hythe by-election, in which former Labour Party memberSt. John Philby was the BPP candidate, was fought on an anti-war platform. Despite gaining the public support of the likes of SirBarry Domvile, leader ofThe Link, the campaign was not a success and Philby was unable to retain hisdeposit.[6] Philby claimed that he agreed with none of the BPP's views apart from their opposition to war. He was more disposed towards theLabour Party but felt they were becoming too pro-war. In Philby's mind, as well as popularly, the BPP were seen as more of a single issue anti-war party.[8]
After the outbreak of theSecond World War the BPP was involved inBritish Union of Fascists-led initiatives to forge closer links between the disparate groups on the far right, although in privateOswald Mosley had a low opinion of the BPP, dismissing Beckett as a "crook", Tavistock as "woolly headed" and Greene as "not very intelligent".[9] Beckett's internment underDefence Regulation 18B in 1940 saw the party go into hibernation, although it was not subject to any government ban.[2] The patronage of Lord Tavistock, who succeeded to the dukedom of Bedford in 1940, ensured that the BPP was exempted from proscription.[10] The group was briefly involved in a clandestine alliance with A.K. Chesterton's National Front After Victory in 1944, a group that also attracted the interest ofJ.F.C. Fuller,Henry Williamson,Jeffrey Hamm,William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield and Lymington (who had succeeded his father asEarl of Portsmouth in the meantime) amongst others.[11] However, the movement was scuppered when it was infiltrated by theBoard of Deputies of British Jews, who fed information toRobert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart, whose speech about the dangers of a revival of fascism led to a crackdown on such movements.[12]
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 fortreason.[13] Before long the BPP returned to wider activity after the war when party policy focused onmonetary reform and the promotion of agriculture.[2] With theUnion Movement not appearing until 1948 the BPP initially attracted some new members, includingColin Jordan, who was invited to join in 1946 and was associated with the group for a time before concentrating his efforts on the more hardlineArnold Leese.[14] The party contested theCombined English Universities by-election on 18 March 1946 but received only 239 votes.[15] The BPP officially disbanded in 1954.[2]
