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.Whatever occurred,there are signs that Mosley and the BUF began to see the NL as aninfernal nuisance and as a potential lightning conductor forincreased public hostility to the BUF after April 1940.RavenThomson suggested at a BUF meeting that a propaganda attackshould be made on the NL people, accusing them of being nazitraitors while emphasizing the BUF s absolute loyalty to Britainand the Empire.65Mosley s own explanation before the Advisory Committee ofhis political behaviour in the 1939 40 period represented anotherarea where he was evasive and told less than the whole truth.There were elements of ambiguity in the explanation he offered.On relations with Ramsay he said quite truthfully that he knewnothing of the  American business , as he called the Tyler Kentaffair, until he was told Ramsay s version of it in Brixton.Heclaimed that he did not get to know Ramsay until they wereinterned, as he ran his own show, although he had been to see himto ask questions in the House of Commons.On another occasionhe said that Ramsay had been to see him four or five times in theoffice to discuss questions of mutual concern such as anti-semitism.He now liked Ramsay personally but implied that hehad very violent views about Jews and freemasons.66 He admittedto working with Domvile, who would often visit him in his officeand published articles by him in Action.67 Mosley s views of the65PRO HO 45/24895/34.66PRO HO 283/14/85 6.67PRO HO 283/14/91.THE HITLER FAN CLUB154NL were more vitriolic.He thought they were a parasitic organiza-tion who took to extremes the views of the BUF, and that theymade the whole principled stand of the peace campaign look fool-ish.68What was clearly evasive in Mosley s answers was that he neverat any stage admitted holding meetings with other organizations,despite the long list of such events chronicled in Domvile s diary.Occasionally some intimations of these occasions emerged in hisanswers.Thus his various attacks on the NL and other small socie-ties, whom he portrayed mainly as those who had been thrownout of the BUF, included a very interesting comment on one whohad attended NL and BUF meetings.This was Aubrey Lees, in whosepossession Special Branch found the invitations to secret meet-ings.For Mosley, Lees was  absolutely certifiable , althoughwhether this was a result of his extremist views or of the fact thathe opposed Mosley s line on every occasion is not clear from thecontext in which he made the remark.69 It is clear, however, thatalthough Mosley painted others as extremists and himself asthoroughly patriotic, Ramsay told the Committee of some of thedetails of the conversation he had with him, one of which relatedto Mosley inviting Ramsay to take over Scotland  in certaincircumstances.70 The Advisory Committee used this example asan indication of their belief that Mosley had been far from frankwith them.If Mosley was somewhat reticent about his relations with otherfascist groups and fellow travellers before the Advisory Committee,others were more forthcoming.Neil Francis Hawkins said that hehad met Lord Tavistock about co-ordinating the activities of thosegroups who had views about the war similar to the BUF.Variousmeetings were held in the early part of the war to concentrate theefforts of those who believed in the movement for negotiatingpeace.Francis Hawkins who had represented the British Fascistsin the merger talks with the New Party in 1932 and had experi-ence of such activities was a natural choice for Mosley to make asthe BUF s chief negotiator.Hawkins also told the committee that68PRO HO 283/16/72.69PRO HO 283/13/73.70PRO HO 45/24891/49.THE HITLER FAN CLUB155at one of these meetings Lord Lymington, Sir Barry Domvile, LordTavistock and Bertie Mills were present.71Aubrey Lees also convinced the Committee that there was noth-ing untoward in the three meetings he attended.According toDomvile s diary these were on the 8 November, 6 December 1939and 7 February 1940, and indeed Lees categorically stated to theAdvisory Committee that he attended no more meetings after thelatter date.Lees said that at the first meeting, to which he hadbeen invited by Ramsay, Mosley read out a long statement relat-ing to a BUF internee named Thomas and that the meeting wasabout the preservation of civil liberties.He attended the secondfor personal reasons in order to see Domvile who through hisnaval and military connections might be able to get him an armypost to release him from his new appointment as a colonial civilservant on the Gold Coast.A Special Branch report suggested thethird meeting was about supporting BUF candidates in by-elections.Lees persuaded the Committee that there was nothing wrong orunusual about any of these three meetings, and it was this factand because he had been wrongly accused of being a member ofthe BUF which led to the Home Secretary agreeing with theAdvisory Committee that he should be released from internmentin October 1940.72Lees files also contain further information on the three meet-ings in March, April and May 1940 which Special Branch were soconcerned about.These relate to meetings on 13 March, 17 Apriland 29 May 1940.73 Domvile s diary shows that there was a meet-ing on 13 March attended by Mosley, Domvile, Mills andTavistock about the desirability of a negotiated peace.There is nomention of Lees being present and the evidence in Domvile s diaryappears to confirm that he was honest to the Committee aboutattendance at such meetings.There is no mention in Domvile sdiary of the alleged meetings of 17 April and 29 May 1940 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]