Why did the BUF fail to gain more support in Britain? The BUF failed to gain support in Britain as a result of Hitler’s rise to power and a shift in Communist policy, which organised anti-fascism in Britain. Although Oswald Mosley gained support through his great oratorical ability and his energy and charisma, he surrounded himself with mediocrities in the party. This meant that the BUF were dependent on Mosley and never had a separate identity as a credible political movement. In order to have gained more support needed to create a successful ‘New Party’, Mosley, able as he was, could not have solely depended on his own characteristic traits, he needed more party members with the same political ability as he, to gain helpful advice, which in turn would have created some more support.

Another reason for the failure of the BUF was that they had managed to gain some support because of the grim economic atmosphere of the 1930s, and once the economy began to pick up, the BUF began to wither. Mosley’s proposals of solving the unemployment issue with greater use of tariffs, governmental control of banks and early retirement schemes initially gained support, especially in London’s East End and Manchester, as other parties failed to solve the unemployment issue - the BUF appealed as it offered a different way of solving the issue. However, support soon diminished as the economy had started to recover, and the British public noticed the BUF’s sympathy for Nazi Germany in the 1930s - this made them suspect the BUF and thus no longer support them.

A final reason why the BUF failed to gain support in Britain was that in 1934, the BUF staged one of three rallies planned for the year in Olympia on June 7th 1934. Rather than become a catalyst for increased BUF membership, the rally caused the BUF to become discredited in the public eye due to the excessive violence from fascists during Mosley's speech. Indeed, in the Times on the 9th June 1934 much space was devoted to the violence witnessed at Olympia. For example, Gerald Barry, a member of the public, claimed that the violence used by the Blackshirts towards communist and socialist demonstrators was unprovoked as 'in no case did the violence originate with the members of the audience'. It was articles such as these, and the fact that Fascist members were put on trial that so significantly damaged the BUF. For had the planned rally passed without violence, and in a peaceful manner, the BUF would not have been discredited in the way it was.