The fascist who fancied himself as Brit Hitler

AN interview with Max Mosley’s fascist father, Sir Oswald, was an encounter with a man who dreamed of becoming a British Hitler.

If the war had been lost, the aristocratic six footer – a decorated hero in the First World War [on our side] – would probably have been made Fuhrer of GB.

I interviewed this man who led the British Fascists – most of whom were thugs and bully boys – at his grand home in Versailles.

Called The Temple of Glory (apt for Mosley’s aspirations), it had belonged to one of Napoleon’s generals.

He possessed a sinister, silky charm which turned cold when asked about the Jews and the anti-Semitism he spouted at meetings.

DARK

“Do you know any Jews?”, I asked. He laughed and replied: “Of course, dear boy.” And he reeled off the names of several leading Jewish bankers. “All splendid fellows,” he said. “How could I be called anti-Semitic?”

I pointed out that I was Jewish myself. His eyes grew dark and he laughed.

“Well let’s say there are Jews – and Jews,” he said.

I mentioned that my mother had been in the jeering crowds when his thuggish fellow fascists marched through London’s East End [then a Jewish quarter]. As he passed by, she threw a rotten egg which splatted on his face.

He smiled liked some evil snake, his eyes cold.

“Do give your mother my warmest regards”, he said sarcastically.

Lady Mosley, an ardent pro-Nazi, had been sitting through the interview.

On hearing I was Jewish, she cried out – and broke a fingernail in anger. She hated the idea that someone Jewish was in her house.

She later said: “The newspaper sent a nice young man to interview my husband. But he was Jewish – they come in all shapes and sizes!”

Mosley insisted he was “a British patriot” – who wore the swastika.