Haters, Baiters and Would-Be Dictators: Anti-Semitism and the UK Far Right

by Nick Toczek (Routledge, £20.99)

ANYONE with even a slight historical knowledge of Britain in the 1930s will have heard of Oswald Mosley and his fascist Blackshirts.

But who knows about Henry Hamilton Beamish and his movement The Britons or Arnold White and the British Brothers League?

In their preoccupation with Hitler and the German nazis, our historians and journalists have invariably overlooked our own home-grown fascists. 

Anti-semitism has a long tradition in Britain and various anti-semitic and fascist organisations have arisen, disappeared and then resurfaced in different guises over the decades.

Their leaders have often included members of the aristocracy and military elite as well as assorted racist oddballs.

Over the years, Nick Toczek has amassed a mass of material about right-wing individuals and organisations and this book is the result.

His main focus is on Beamish, who devoted his life to a crusade against the Jews based on the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. 

Born in London in 1873, his antecedents came from the military, clerical or political elite and Beamish went on to serve in the army and spent considerable time in South Africa where his racist ideas were honed.

He went on to produce a range of magazines and other publications in which he disseminated his racism and nationalist fervour and laid the basis for many fascist organisations that followed. 

Although such organisations have invariably been marginal to the mainstream political narrative, they have nevertheless often been granted active or tacit support by establishment figures.

Toczek provides a detailed and fascinating overview of the development and activities of the extreme right wing in Britain throughout the 20th century and for anyone wishing to know more about these shady and dangerous organisations his book is a mine of information. 

He also attaches a very useful appendix of publications and key figures.

In his conclusion, he perceptively notes: “We’re all guilty of prejudice of some kind, although we usually deny it, and seldom understand the distorted logic behind it.” This book helps shed light on that distorted logic. 

Review by John Green