13. Viscount Rothermere used his unique platform to urge the British people to see the benefits of homegrown fascism.
In 1930s Britain, Harold Harmsworth, the 1st Viscount Rothermere, was a hugely influential figure. He was the owner of a number of popular newspapers, including the Daily Mail. Thanks to his status, he had the power to sway public opinion. And, famously, he attempted to do just this when it looked like Britain could get its own far-right movement. His newspaper proclaimed ‘Hurrah for the Blackshirts’, urging its readers to support the newly-formed British Union of Fascists. It also praised the movement’s Nazi-sympathizing leader Oswald Mosley for his “sound, common-sense, Conservative doctrine”.
In the autumn of 1938, Viscount Rothermere even visited Hitler in Germany. He then sent the Fuhrer a telegram, praising his expansive aims and expressing his hope that the rest of Britain would soon come to admire. Adolf the Great”. The records show he even urged Hitler to invade Romania. To his supporters, the press baron’s pro-German sympathies were built largely on his fear of Communism and belief that only a far-right regime could save Europe from falling under the control of the Soviet Union. Moreover, as war became inevitable, Rothermere toned down his pro-German rhetoric.