League of Empire Loyalists

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League of Empire Loyalists
AbbreviationLEL
LeaderA. K. Chesterton
Founded1954; 70 years ago (1954)
Dissolved7 February 1967; 57 years ago (7 February 1967)
Split fromConservative Party
Merged intoNational Front
Membership2,000–3,000 (1960s est.)
Ideology
Far-right
Colours  Red   White   Blue

The League of Empire Loyalists (LEL) was a British

Arthur K. Chesterton, a former leading figure in the British Union of Fascists, who had served under Sir Oswald Mosley. The League found support from some Conservative Party members, although most of the Conservative leadership disliked it.[1]

Formation

Chesterton established the group in 1954 on the far right of the

Jewish-led conspiracy against the British Empire, a mindset that informed the LEL from the beginning.[3]

The wide-reaching critiques that this conspiracy theory utilised meant that the LEL won membership from various sectors of right-wing opinion, including former BUF activists like Chesterton himself and

Balfour Oliphant Hutchison and the former British People's Party election candidate Air Commodore G. S. Oddie.[5]

Although the LEL actively supported an independent candidate who was a member at the 1957 Lewisham North by-election, it was not a political party.[6] According to Nigel Fielding, the LEL "was composed of right-wing Conservatives, particularly retired military men, and a few pre-war Fascists".[7]

Stunts

The LEL was well known for various stunts at Conservative Party meetings and conferences (acting as a constant irritant to the party). These stunts included hiding underneath the speaker platform overnight to emerge during the conference in order to put across their points. At the 1958 party Conference in Blackpool, George Irvine Finlay (who became Director of Organisation for the Scottish Conservatives) was involved in forcibly removing members of the League of Empire Loyalists. The widespread media coverage resulted in his being sued for assault; not only was he acquitted, but costs were awarded against the prosecution.[8] That same year the League secured further publicity when members launched an "invasion" of the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion.[6]

In another incident, LEL member Austen Brooks gained access to a lunch for

Central Hall, Westminster, on 17 February 1958 were heckled, in particular Michael Foot.[12] After these antics, the Tory leadership made it clear to their members that the LEL was to be discouraged, leading to a severe downturn in membership.[13]

Policies

As its name suggests, the initial aim of the LEL was to support the

one nation conservatism that came to dominate the party.[14] This was particularly true following the independence of Sudan and the Suez Crisis in 1956 when the Conservatives formally broke from any notion of being the party of empire.[15]

As time progressed, the group became primarily concerned with opposing non-white immigration into

anti-communist and had close links with emigre groups such as the Ukrainian National Committee.[17]

Decline and splits

By 1961, the LEL found itself in financial trouble, and Chesterton was funding the group himself. The group had also lost many of its members, falling from a 1958 high of 3000 to only 300 members. Some had left with Hilton to join his Patriotic Party whilst another group of leavers had been the supporters of Colin Jordan. Jordan had left in 1957 after his call to bar Jews, and non-whites from the LEL had been rejected, whilst John Bean had left under acrimonious circumstances the following year. Both men advocated the formation of mass parties, an idea that Chesterton rejected, and over time they won support to their respective groups, the White Defence League and the National Labour Party by advocating these and other more radical ideas.[11]

By the mid-1960s, the LEL was a shadow of its former self as, according to leading member Rodney Legg, it had come to be seen as archaic and anachronistic whilst it was struggling even more with a lack of funds. By 1964, Chesterton was already being heard to say in private that the future of the LEL might be better served by joining up with the younger, more radical members who had departed earlier in the decade.[18] In an attempt to reinvigorate the flagging group Chesterton was persuaded to put up three "Independent Loyalist" candidates in the 1964 General Election, but between them, they managed to secure only 1064 votes[19] According to Michael Billig, the League only contested these seats as a publicity stunt rather than due to having any pretensions to becoming a political party.[20] The League's journal Candour went on to support the National Front while A. K. Chesterton was its leader. Following that, it became independent and is still published to this day.

Creation of the National Front

Despite the poor performances of the three candidates, donations had poured in from all over the country to help them fight the campaign. This made a deep impression on Chesterton, who had largely been obliged to fund the LEL out of his own pocket.

right-wing libertarian who had garnered a reputation as an excellent fund-raiser and whose methods, if not politics, had impressed Chesterton greatly.[21] By the spring of 1966, Chesterton had begun sounding out the likes of Bean, Tyndall and even Jordan about the possibility of building a united front on the far right.[19]

Chesterton's mood was dampened somewhat by the 1966 general election in which the Labour Party won a convincing victory and anti-immigration candidates lost support, as well as by Rhodesia's exit from the Commonwealth following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence. However, it also convinced him that space had opened to the right of the Conservative Party and that the chances were better for a united far-right group.[22] The LEL, however, was under threat from the growth of the Racial Preservation Society and of the Monday Club, making the need for a new party that much more urgent.[23] Around this time, he flirted with Dr David Brown of the Racial Preservation Society and his plans to establish a National Democratic Party, but he backed away when Brown insisted that the LEL would effectively be turned over to RPS control in this arrangement.[24]

Discussions with the

National Front.[26]

References

  1. ^ S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, London: Macmillan, 1982, p. 12
  2. ^ Walker 1977, pp. 28–29.
  3. ^ Walker 1977, p. 29.
  4. ^ a b Walker 1977, p. 30.
  5. ^ John Bean (1999). Many Shades of Black: Inside Britain's Far Right. London: New Millennium. p. 99.
  6. ^ a b c David Boothroyd, The Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties, London: Politico's, 2001, p. 143
  7. ISBN 978-0710005595
    .
  8. ^ George Irvine Finlay Obituary, The Herald. Glasgow. 5 January 1999.
  9. ^ Thurlow 1987, p. 250.
  10. ^ "Leonard Young Profile".
  11. ^ a b Walker 1977, p. 31.
  12. ^ Chris Wrigley, A.J.P. Taylor: Radical Historian of Europe, I.B.Tauris, 2006, p. 276
  13. ^ Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, p. 13
  14. ^ Martin Barker, The New Racism, London: Junction Books, 1982, p. 33-34
  15. ^ Ray Hill & Andrew Bell, The Other Face of Terror - Inside Europe’s Neo-Nazi Network, London: Collins, 1988, p. 81
  16. ^ Kenneth Lunn, Richard C. Thurlow, British fascism: essays on the radical right in inter-war Britain, Taylor & Francis, 1980, p. 213
  17. ^ Bean, Many Shades of Black, p. 101
  18. ^ Walker 1977, p. 47.
  19. ^ a b c Walker 1977, p. 48.
  20. ^ Michael Billig, A Social Psychological View of the National Front, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978, p. 113
  21. ^ Walker 1977, pp. 48–49.
  22. ^ Walker 1977, p. 50.
  23. ^ Walker 1977, p. 61.
  24. ^ Walker 1977, p. 64.
  25. ^ Walker 1977, p. 65.
  26. ^ Walker 1977, p. 67.
Bibliography
ISBN 978-0-631-13618-7
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ISBN 978-0-00-634824-5
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