Editing British Union of Fascists (section)

===Decline and legacy===
The BUF became more [[antisemitic]] over 1934–35 owing to the growing influence of Nazi sympathisers within the party, such as [[William Joyce]] and [[John Beckett (politician)|John Beckett]], which provoked the resignation of members such as [[Robert Forgan]]. This antisemitic emphasis and these high-profile resignations resulted in a significant decline in membership, dropping to below 8,000 by the end of 1935, and, ultimately, Mosley shifted the party's focus back to mainstream politics. There were frequent and continuous violent clashes between BUF party members and [[anti-fascist]] protesters, most famously at the [[Battle of Cable Street]] in October 1936, when organised anti-fascists prevented the BUF from marching through Cable Street. However, the party later staged other marches through the East End without incident, albeit not on Cable Street itself.

BUF support for [[Edward VIII]] and the peace campaign to prevent a second [[World War II|World War]] saw membership and public support rise once more.<ref name="thurlow94">Richard C. Thurlow. ''Fascism in Britain: from Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts to the National Front''. 2nd edition. New York, New York, USA: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2006. p. 94.</ref> The government was sufficiently concerned by the party's growing prominence to pass the [[Public Order Act 1936]], which banned [[political uniform]]s and required police consent for political marches.

In 1937, William Joyce and other Nazi sympathisers split from the party to form the [[National Socialist League]], which quickly folded, with most of its members [[interned]]. Mosley later denounced Joyce as a traitor and condemned him for his extreme antisemitism. The historian [[Stephen Dorril]] revealed in his book ''Blackshirts'' that secret envoys from the Nazis had donated about £50,000 to the BUF.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fenton|first1=Ben|title=Oswald Mosley 'was a financial crook bankrolled by Nazis'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1513465/Oswald-Mosley-was-a-financial-crook-bankrolled-by-Nazis.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1513465/Oswald-Mosley-was-a-financial-crook-bankrolled-by-Nazis.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=Daily Telegraph|date=20 March 2006 |access-date=16 July 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

By 1939, total BUF membership had declined to just 20,000.<ref name="thurlow94"/> On 23 May 1940, Mosley and some 740&nbsp;other party members were interned under [[Defence Regulation 18B]]. The BUF then called on its followers to resist invasion, but it was declared unlawful on 10 July 1940 and ceased its activities.<ref name=SDI/><ref name=AS>{{cite book |author=Andrew Sangster |title=An Analytical Diary of 1939-1940: The Twelve Months that Changed the World |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |date=2017 |url=  https://books.google.com/books?id=MVvXDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA276 |page=276|isbn=9781443891608 }}</ref>

After the war, Mosley made several unsuccessful attempts to return to political life, one such being through the [[Union Movement]], but he had no successes.