Ron Webb's association with Sir Oswald Mosley began in the 1930s when he became a member of the British Union of Fascists. Nothing is known of Webb's activities in the B.U.F. other than when the organisation was banned on 23 May 1940 and Mosley, along with 740 other fascists, was interned, Webb was not arrested and remained free to fight for his country.
When the war started, Ron Webb volunteered for the Airborne Forces and was later wounded while serving with the 6th Airborne Division in Europe, losing an eye. When the war ended, he served with the Airborne Division in Palestine during the Palestine troubles.
After the war, with the B.U.F. now a banned organisation, Mosley passed his time farming in Wiltshire, but in February 1948, following the publication of his book “The Alternative” he relaunched his political career as leader of the new Union Movement. The party, which Mosley described as an amalgam of 51 organizations, most of them right-wing book clubs, was officially launched at a packed meeting in Farringdon Hall, London on 7 February 1948.
Webb joined Union Movement soon after the party was launched. He set up the Union Movement Watford Branch and became Branch Leader. The branch soon expanded and Webb became the Organiser for the North West Home Counties.
He was a good Organiser, well liked by the members, and stood as a candidate for Union Movement in Bradshaw Ward, Watford in almost every council election.
Ron Webb had lived in Bradshaw Ward from childhood up to the time when he was mobilised with the local Territorial Army in 1939. Bradshaw Ward was abolished by Watford Council in 1998 due to boundary changes.
Ron Webb's B.U.F. membership cards have been lost but most of his Union Movement membership cards have survived. His surviving U.M. membership cards begin in 1950 but he may have been involved earlier.
Ron Webb's Union Movement membership cards
This early (1956) membership card has three folds. Note the Horst Wessel Lied and the Blackshirt figure which is reminiscent of the pre-war British Union of Fascists
After the 1966 General Election Sir Oswald Mosley effectively withdrew from public life and the U.M. came under the effective leadership of Jeffrey Hamm and Robert Row.Mosley was officially U.M. leader until 1973 when he formally retired. He was succeeded by Jeffrey Hamm who relaunched U.M. as the Action Party.
Ron Webb's Action Party membership card is shown below on the right.
Union Movement leaflet - Ron Webb
canvassing on the doorstep for the Watford Borough Election in 1966
canvassing on the doorstep for the Watford Borough Election in 1966
Union Movement policy was to stop all coloured immigration, house our own people first, and send all coloured immigrants, fares paid, back to their own countries.
Action Party Leaflet, - Watford Borough County Council elections, 1973
The caption "We Shall Not Be Silenced" on the front of the above leaflet was inspired by the fact that the local Liberal Party tried to get him prosecuted because his Election Address put forward a policy to keep Britain British and house our own people first.
Below is a letter to Ron Webb, dated 24 August 1955, thanking him for his donation to the "Union" support fund. The letter is signed by party secretary, Alexander Raven Thomson. Before the war, Raven Thomson had been Director of Policy for the British Union of Fascists.
Below is a letter to Ron Webb, dated 24 August 1955, thanking him for his donation to the "Union" support fund. The letter is signed by party secretary, Alexander Raven Thomson. Before the war, Raven Thomson had been Director of Policy for the British Union of Fascists.
In 2011, according to the 2011 Census, Watford was 77.8% white British. A report published in January, 2015 by Watford Borough Council puts the white British population of Watford at just 62% with large increases in the Indian, Pakistani and Black African populations.
If only the people of Watford had listened to Mosley!
