Britain was complacent about the far right. Now it’s out in force

Oswald Mosley was banned from the BBC. His modern successors have no such problems finding a platform

Once upon a time, the BBC banned fascists from its broadcasts. In 1935, when Oswald Mosley’s British Union was near its peak of popularity, organising rallies and marches across the country, the corporation stopped allowing him to appear on its programmes. The ban, unofficially supported by successive Conservative, Labour and coalition governments, lasted 33 years. Its rationale was straightforward: Mosley’s views were too extreme, his supporters too threatening, and his admiration for foreign authoritarians too strong for him to be allowed a prominent place in the national discourse. A line was drawn between what was acceptable and unacceptable in rightwing politics, and Mosley was on the wrong side of it. By the time the prohibition was lifted, in 1968, he was a bitter old man.

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