League Of Empire Loyalists
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The League of Empire Loyalists (LEL) was a British
pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...
(also called a "
ginger group The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to act ...
" in Britain and the
Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
), established in 1954. Its ostensible purpose was to stop the dissolution of the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
. The League was a small group of current or former members of the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
led by Arthur K. Chesterton, a former leading figure in the
British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...
, who had served under Sir
Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...
. The League found support from some Conservative Party members, although the leadership disliked it very much.


Formation

Chesterton established the group in 1954 on the far right of the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, effectively as a reaction to the more liberal forms of
Toryism A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
in evidence at the time, as typified by the policies of
R. A. Butler Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), also known as R. A. Butler and familiarly known from his initials as Rab, was a prominent British Conservative Party politician. ''The Times'' obituary ...
. Chesterton feared the growth of the Soviet Union and of the United States. He concluded that
Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, fo ...
and American-style
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
were actually in an alliance as part of a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
-led conspiracy against the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, a mindset that informed the LEL from the beginning. 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
Barry Domvile Admiral Sir Barry Edward Domvile, (5 September 1878 – 13 August 1971) was a high-ranking Royal Navy officer who was interned during the Second World War for being a Nazi sympathiser. Throughout the 1930s, he had expressed support for Germany ...
, traditionalist patriots like General Sir Richard Hilton and young radicals like
John Tyndall John Tyndall FRS (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th-century Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the p ...
,
John Bean John Bean may refer to: * John Bean (cricketer) (1913–2005), English cricketer and British Army officer * John Bean (politician) (1927–2021), long-standing participant in the British far right * John Bean (explorer) ( 1751–1757), Canadian e ...
,
Colin Jordan John Colin Campbell Jordan (19 June 1923 – 9 April 2009) was a leading figure in post-war neo-Nazism in Great Britain. In the far-right circles of the 1960s, Jordan represented the most explicitly "Nazi" inclination in his open use of the st ...
and
Martin Webster Martin Guy Alan Webster (born 14 May 1943) is a British neo-nazi, a former leading figure on the far-right in the United Kingdom. An early member of the National Labour Party, he was John Tyndall's closest ally, and followed him in joining ...
. Indeed, in its early years, the LEL succeeded in attracting some leading members of the establishment to its ranks, including Field-Marshal
Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside Field Marshal William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside, (6 May 1880 – 22 September 1959) was a senior officer of the British Army who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the first year of the Second World War. Ironside ...
, Lieutenant-General Sir Balfour Oliphant Hutchison and former British People's Party election candidate Air Commodore G. S. Oddie. Although the LEL actively supported an independent candidate who was a member at the
1957 Lewisham North by-election The Lewisham North by-election of 14 February 1957 was held following the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Austin Hudson, 1st Baronet the previous year. In a defeat for the Conservative government, the seat was gained by the La ...
, it was not a political party. According to Nigel Fielding, the LEL "was composed of right-wing Conservatives, particularly retired military men, and a few pre-war Fascists".


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 Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
, George Irvine Finlay (who became Director of Organisation for the
Scottish Conservatives The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party ( gd, Pàrtaidh Tòraidheach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Tory an Unionist Pairty), often known simply as the Scottish Conservatives and colloquially as the Scottish Tories, is a centre-right political par ...
) 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. That same year the League secured further publicity when members launched an "invasion" of the
Lambeth Conference The Lambeth Conference is a decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place at Lambeth in 1867. As the Anglican Communion is an international association ...
of the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
. In another incident, LEL member Austen Brooks gained access to a lunch for
U Thant Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...
by impersonating Cypriot Archbishop
Makarios III Makarios III ( el, Μακάριος Γ΄; born Michael Christodoulou Mouskos) (Greek: Μιχαήλ Χριστοδούλου Μούσκος) (13 August 1913 – 3 August 1977) was a Cypriot politician, archbishop and primate who served as ...
, both men being heavily bearded, before revealing his charade and shouting LEL slogans. Sir
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...
was also a target and when he shook hands with
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
and
Nikolai Bulganin Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Булга́нин; – 24 February 1975) was a Soviet politician who served as Minister of Defense (1953–1955) and Premier of the Soviet Union (1955–1 ...
as they arrived at Victoria Station in 1956, LEL members were on hand to yell at Eden that he had just shaken hands with murderers. In November 1961, Leonard Young, a Royal Air Force Wing Commander and author of the 1956 book ''Deadlier Than the H-Bomb'', gained further notoriety for the LEL when he threw a bag of sheep guts at the
President of Kenya The president of the Republic of Kenya () is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Kenya. The President is also the head of the executive branch of the Government of Kenya and is the commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defe ...
,
Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
. The
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...
was also a target when speakers at its inaugural rally in
Central Hall, Westminster The Methodist Central Hall (also known as Central Hall Westminster) is a multi-purpose venue in the City of Westminster, London, serving primarily as a Methodist church and a conference centre. The building, which is a tourist attraction, also ho ...
, on 17 February 1958 were heckled, in particular
Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
. 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.


Policies

As its name suggests, the initial aim of the LEL was to support the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
and to campaign for its continuing existence.David Boothroyd, ''The Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties'', London: Politico's, 2001, p. 143 It was to be its calls for the restoration of the empire and reassertion of the notion of
Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...
as the world's natural leaders that ultimately saw the group become estranged from the Conservatives, as the League was increasingly divorced from the
one nation conservatism One-nation conservatism, also known as one-nationism or Tory democracy, is a paternalistic form of British political conservatism. It advocates the preservation of established institutions and traditional principles within a political democ ...
that came to dominate the party. This was particularly true following the independence of Sudan and the
Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
in 1956 when the Conservatives formally broke from any notion of being the party of empire. As time progressed, the group became primarily concerned with opposing non-white immigration into
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
and were instrumental in the founding (with other
right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
and
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
groups) of the National Front in February 1967. Chesterton's personal
anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
and devotion to conspiracy theories about the Jews and international capitalism also became more prominent in LEL ideology towards the end of the group's life.Kenneth Lunn, Richard C. Thurlow, ''British fascism: essays on the radical right in inter-war Britain'', Taylor & Francis, 1980, p. 213 The League was also strongly
anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
and had close links with emigre groups such as the
Ukrainian National Committee The Ukrainian National Committee ( uk, Український Національний Комітет) was a Ukrainian political structure created under the leadership of Pavlo Shandruk, on March 17 (or March 12), 1945 in Weimar, Nazi Germany, near ...
.


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 , colorcode = #E4433E , leader1_title = Leaders , leader1_name = Ignacy PotockiAdam Kazimierz Czartoryski Stanisław Małachowski , foundation = , dissolution = , headquarters = Kraków , ideology = Pro-ReformConstitution ...
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 The White Defence League (WDL) was a British neo-Nazi political party. Using the provocative marching techniques popularised by Oswald Mosley, its members included John Tyndall. Formation The WDL had its roots in Colin Jordan's decision to spl ...
and the National Labour Party by advocating these and other more radical ideas. By the mid-1960s, the LEL was a shadow of its former self as, according to leading member
Rodney Legg Rodney Frank Legg (18 April 1947 – 22 July 2011) was a campaigner, author and publisher, known for being chairman of the Open Spaces Society and for publishing numerous works on the history and landscape of Dorset, England. Early life Legg was ...
, 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. 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 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.Michael Billig, ''A Social Psychological View of the National Front'', Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978, p. 113 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. Chesterton had been preoccupied with a legal case over the estate of his financial benefactor, the
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
-based millionaire Robert K. Jeffrey, who had seemingly left two contradictory wills, but Chesterton's fervour for politics had been rekindled by his discovery of the relative ease of funding a political party and by the emergence of Edward Martell, a right-wing libertarian who had garnered a reputation as an excellent fund-raiser and whose methods, if not politics, had impressed Chesterton greatly. 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. 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 Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
's exit from the Commonwealth following its
Unilateral Declaration of Independence A unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) is a formal process leading to the establishment of a new state by a subnational entity which declares itself independent and sovereign without a formal agreement with the state which it is secedi ...
. 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. The LEL, however, was under threat from the growth of the
Racial Preservation Society The Racial Preservation Society was a far-right pressure group opposed to immigration and in favour of white nationalism, national preservation and protection in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. Background Although parties such as the Union Movem ...
and of the
Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unioni ...
, making the need for a new party that much more urgent. 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. Discussions with the
British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...
(BNP) began in earnest in September 1966, and by the time of the LEL conference the following month, plans were already at such an advanced stage that the major topic was whether the new party would be called the British Front or the National Independence Party. The conference also saw the establishment of a working party to thrash out details of the new group, consisting of Austen Brooks, Rosine de Bounevialle, Avril Walters and Nettie Bonner from the LEL and Philip Maxwell, Bernard Simmons and Gerald Kemp from the BNP. On 7 February 1967 the LEL was wound up and replaced by the newly merged group, by now known as the National Front.


References

; Bibliography : : {{authority control National Front (UK) Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1954 Far-right political parties in the United Kingdom Anti-communist organizations