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who is the biggest bluenose to play for us.


stu54

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In what context?, bearing in mind that Michael Foot wrote a book called Guilty Men.

He basically said that Mosley was the most brilliant politician Britain had and should have led the labour party and become Prime Minister, but that he went off the deep end and that regardless of Mosley's own professed disinterest in racialist policies, the anti-semitism that surrounded fascism was beyond the pale and it was impossible to consider fascism without considering its anti-semitism.
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He basically said that Mosley was the most brilliant politician Britain had and should have led the labour party and become Prime Minister, but that he went off the deep end and that regardless of Mosley's own professed disinterest in racialist policies, the anti-semitism that surrounded fascism was beyond the pale and it was impossible to consider fascism without considering its anti-semitism.

I know quite a bit about Michael Foot, despite being Conservative, and I wonder if you are not confusing him with Tony Benn here. Foot was very particular about his Labour Party allegiances, particularly in his younger years, and I have never came across any record of him having said that about Mosley. It just so happens that I have three biographies of Foot, and in one of them, by Mervyn Jones, Foot is referred to as an opponent of Mosley in many ways.

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I know quite a bit about Michael Foot, despite being Conservative, and I wonder if you are not confusing him with Tony Benn here. Foot was very particular about his Labour Party allegiances, particularly in his younger years, and I have never came across any record of him having said that about Mosley. It just so happens that I have three biographies of Foot, and in one of them, by Mervyn Jones, Foot is referred to as an opponent of Mosley in many ways.

Foot wrote a review (titled "Mosley: The Rise and Fall of a Would-Be Caesar") of Mosley's memoirs. I can't find the full text online but there are passages quoted (and, where it suits the person quoting, also misquoted) here and there.

"No rising star in the political firmament ever shone more brightly than Oswald Mosley, none promised more surely to soar to the heavens – and none fell to earth with so deadening a thud. Never were such rich talents so wretchedly squandered. Never did success turn to failure so inscrutably."

"By general assent he could have become the leader of either the Labour or the Conservative Party.”

“What Mosley so valiantly stood for could have saved this country from the Hungry Thirties and the Second World War.”

I'm not claiming that Foot defended Mosley, but it seems plain to me that he found much to admire in him, as Lenin admired Mussolini, and was sorry to see his talents turned to the wrong ends.

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Foot wrote a review (titled "Mosley: The Rise and Fall of a Would-Be Caesar") of Mosley's memoirs. I can't find the full text online but there are passages quoted (and, where it suits the person quoting, also misquoted) here and there.

"No rising star in the political firmament ever shone more brightly than Oswald Mosley, none promised more surely to soar to the heavens – and none fell to earth with so deadening a thud. Never were such rich talents so wretchedly squandered. Never did success turn to failure so inscrutably."

"By general assent he could have become the leader of either the Labour or the Conservative Party.”

“What Mosley so valiantly stood for could have saved this country from the Hungry Thirties and the Second World War.”

I'm not claiming that Foot defended Mosley, but it seems plain to me that he found much to admire in him, as Lenin admired Mussolini, and was sorry to see his talents turned to the wrong ends.

I know that Benn spoke in a similar way of Mosley, although my knowledge of Benn isn't great so I can't say that with confidence. I'm willing to be wrong about Foot and Mosley, might look into it over time. Cheers. On reflection, what you have quoted is not the admiration you implied earlier though, and I would say on reading your quote that it could textually be ascribed to Foot, but I don't really see admiration there!

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