Editing British Union of Fascists (section)

===Background===
[[File:History of British fascist political groups.svg|thumb|295x295px|Flowchart showing the history of the early British fascist movement]]
[[Oswald Mosley]] was the youngest elected [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MP before [[crossing the floor]] in 1922, joining first [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and, shortly afterward, the [[Independent Labour Party]]. He became [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] in [[Ramsay MacDonald]]'s [[Second MacDonald Ministry|Labour government]], advising on rising unemployment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1930-11-04/debates/03005d1c-b6cc-41d5-8f84-2af22811babd/ChancellorOfTheDuchyOfLancaster|title=Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - Hansard - UK Parliament|access-date=30 June 2020|archive-date=3 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703084808/https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1930-11-04/debates/03005d1c-b6cc-41d5-8f84-2af22811babd/ChancellorOfTheDuchyOfLancaster|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1930, Mosley issued his Mosley Memorandum, which fused [[protectionism]] with a proto-[[Keynesian]] programme of policies designed to tackle the problem of unemployment, and he resigned from the Labour Party soon after, in early 1931, when the plans were rejected. He immediately formed the [[New Party (UK)|New Party]], with policies based on his memorandum. The party won 16% of the vote at a by-election in [[Ashton-under-Lyne (UK Parliament constituency)|Ashton-under-Lyne]] in early 1931; however, it failed to achieve any other electoral success.<ref>{{cite book |last=Powell |first=David |date=2004 |title=British Politics,1910-35 - The Crisis of the Party System |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ch22p6goYYkC&q=BUF+50,000+members&pg=PA181 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415351065}}</ref>

During 1931, the New Party became increasingly influenced by [[fascism]].<ref name="Britaininthe1930s"/> The following year, after a January 1932 visit to [[Benito Mussolini]] in [[Italy]], Mosley's own conversion to fascism was confirmed. He wound up the New Party in April, but preserved its youth movement, which would form the core of the BUF, intact. He spent the summer that year writing a fascist programme, ''The Greater Britain'', and this formed the basis of policy of the BUF, which was launched on 1 October 1932<ref name="Britaininthe1930s">Thorpe, Andrew. (1995) ''Britain In The 1930s'', Blackwell Publishers, {{ISBN|0-631-17411-7}}</ref> at 12 [[Great George Street]] in London.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dorril |first=Stephen |url=http://archive.org/details/blackshirtsirosw0000dorr |title=Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism |publisher=Viking |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-670-86999-2 |pages=216}}</ref>