The mid-to-late 1960s registered a number of significant political developments. Oswald Mosley officially retired from politics in favour of developing a role as an influential commentator on national affairs, though his Union Movement (UM) would continue to exist in a diminished form for a number of years, functioning chiefly to propagate Mosley's views through the movement print Action; the development of the Ulster troubles naturally attracted his attention. But, just as Mosley was attempting to carve out his new public role, Enoch Powell emerged dramatically in 1968 as a leading figure on the Right with his apocalyptic ‘rivers of blood’ speech on the national dangers of ‘coloured’ immigration. As such, he could be seen as usurping Mosley's role in this respect, a figure more relevant to a new era of extreme-Right politics. And, for our purposes, Powell would engage more personally with the Ulster problem than Mosley. This chapter assesses the degree of similarity and difference in their approaches to the subject.

Mosley and Powell: Political Departures

Oswald Mosley's retirement from active politics had the effect of modifying his public perception. It occurred in the context of a largely favourable reception for his autobiography, My Life, in both Ireland and Britain, with several leading public figures testifying to his abilities. In this context Mosley sought to reshape his past so as better to exploit this situation. His close associate at this time, Cecil King – whom the security services recorded as having attended one of Mosley's meetings advocating peace with Nazi Germany during the phoney war period of 1940 – remarked: ‘He is at pains now in interviews to convince everybody that he was never anti-Jewish, never pro-German, and never favoured violence at his meetings. Surely he protests too much.’ Mosley had already put in a robust, if not always accurate, defence of his political career during the London Weekend Television broadcast The Frost Programme, hosted by David Frost, in November 1967, while at the same time proposed legal action against the BBC for denying him the opportunity to respond to his critics succeeded in its ban on Mosley, in place since 1936, being removed in 1968. Thereafter Mosley had recurrent, if not uncritical, television coverage. These were welcome developments facilitating Mosley's political repositioning, though he never dismissed entirely the prospect of a great national crisis that would result in a call for his services to meet it.