Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism

‘An important contribution to history.’ Roy Hattersley, New Statesman ‘Dorril takes us Into the dark alleys of the shady aristocrats, disillusioned generals, renegade politicians, sadistic thugs and lost romantics [of] British fascism.’ The Observer `Easy-paced and entertaining, judicious — and damning. He works his way carefully through all the claims made for Mosley and shows how far each one is hollow, misconceived or false.’ London Review of Books ‘Deeply researched, scholarly, important . . . magnificently fleshes out a politician whose sense of personal destiny outstripped his sense of human decency.’ Scotland on Sunday ‘The authority of this book rests on thorough research.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘An exhaustively researched and provocative study.’ Sunday Times ‘Blackshirt is an unrelenting indictment . . . it is a book that rightly ensures that there can be no soft-focussed rehabilitation.’ The Observer Hated and adored, trusted and feared, respected and scorned – public opinion has never been indifferent to Sir Oswald Mosley. A brilliant politician, Mosley turned his back on conventional party politics to found, in 1932, the British Union of Fascists. Over the intervening years, many have worked hard to guard Mosley’s reputation but Blackshirt casts new light on the man. It reveals the true nature of his relationship with the Nazis, and challenges the prevailing view of his descent into anti-Semitism. With ground-breaking research, Stephen Dorril uncovers an extraordinary set of characters and behind-the-scenes friends and colleagues who supported Mosley - the crooks, swindlers, political and royal figures, secret agents, Nazi spies, lovers and ‘crackpots’ - and who helped to create the most infamous politician of the twentieth century.