My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleycomparison with his gifts and his manly character, and may be left to the insignificantcondemnation of the loutery and prudery which lack both wit and humanunderstanding.I won the election of 1923 by 14,079 votes to 9,433. The majority was reduced, butstill substantial, and in face of the protectionist tradition of Harrow was something ofa triumph, which confirmed my strong position as an Independent. The general resultplaced the Conservatives in a minority, with the Liberals under Mr. Asquith holdingthe balance between them and Labour. Speaking from the Opposition benches in thedecisive debate on the address, I gave my reasons for voting to defeat theConservative Government. Some passages from this speech in abbreviated andconsequently disjointed form may be worth quoting, both as an illustration of mydeveloping political position and as an example of a debating style which is dead andcold in print, but in the heat of controversy enabled a member in his twenties to fillthe House to capacity on his rising.Referring to the record of the Government I said: 'It can be very briefly summarised.They have lavished money on Mesopotamia, on Singapore, and on wild-cat schemesof adventure in all parts of the world. They have economised to pay for theseadventures on health, on education, and on every measure of social reform. They havefinanced the luxuries of Arab princes by starving physically and mentally the peopleof this country. They have made remissions of taxation to the rich, and they have paidfor them by squeezing the poor. They have stood baffled and bewildered in front ofthe great housing problem, because they dare not face their friends in the greathousing trusts which are controlling the building industry.'We had experienced 'all that oppression of the poor and defenceless to which we areaccustomed from reaction', but not the 'strength of administration which theorists tellus is the advantage of a Conservative Government'.At home, Mr. William Bridgeman, the Home Secretary, had been compelled to restorea hundred deported Irishmen 'to their distracted families and their weeping wives, andthe Government once again was confronted with the painful reality that they wereborn to make men laugh, not women weep'. Abroad, 'they have done just enough toirritate everyone—not enough to achieve anything. That is the most fatal of allpolicies. ... It reduces the authoritative accents of a great nation to the shrill railing ofa bedridden old woman.... They could never bring us peace, but we were told thatConservative administration brought us prestige and honour among the nations.Let me take the one occasion on which the case for Britain and the case for humanityhas been stated by the present Government—the Note of August last. A Note waswritten setting out our claims, urging the paramount necessity of a Europeansettlement, saying that every day Europe was coming nearer to the brink ofcatastrophe, and threatening that Britain would take separate action unless somethingwere done. Then what happened? The whole Cabinet broke up and went on theirholidays for a month. The Prime Minister, in particular, went to Aix-les-Bains. Afterwriting one pompous letter, they all went to bed for a month, so arduous was theexertion of maintaining so much dignity.' (This was a little mechant, as Lord Curzonwas still Foreign Secretary.) 'The next act in that sad farce was the most lamentableand disgraceful of all—the drowsy return via Paris of the sleeping beauty of Aix-les-143 of 424