Tory MP Archibald Ramsay was a radical right wing UK MP. Among other things, he founded a [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]secret society called the [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Right Club in May of 1939[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]. This club represented Ramsay's attempt to unify all the different right-wing groups in Britain--"co-ordinating the work of all the patriotic societies".
In his autobiography, The Nameless War, Ramsay argued: "The main object of the Right Club was to oppose and expose the activities of Organized Jewry, in the light of the evidence which came into my possession in 1938. Our first objective was to clear the Conservative Party of Jewish influence, and the character of our membership and meetings were strictly in keeping with this objective." [/FONT]
During the Phoney War period, Ramsay and The Right Club sought to end UK involvement in the war.
An American cypher clerk with the US embassy, Tyler Kent, was one of the last members to join. He was entrusted with the "Red Book," a membership list. The membership included several prominent Tories. Unfortunately for Ramsay, Kent was stealing top-secret documents from the embassy and had already fallen under suspicion for so doing. On May 20, Kent's flat was raided and he was arrested; the locked 'Red Book' was forced open. This arrest resulted in the eventual internment of Ramsay.
Tthe names in the Red Book were not published. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Herbert Morrison[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif], the Home Secretary refused to reveal the contents of Ramsay's Red Book. He claimed that it was impossible to know if the names in the book were really members of the Right Club and if this was the case, the publication of the book would unfairly smear innocent people.
Members of Right Club [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]included [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]William Joyce[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif], [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Anna Wolkoff[/FONT], Norah Dacre Fox, [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Joan Miller[/FONT], [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A. K. Chesterton,[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Francis Yeats-Brown, E. H. Cole, Lord Redesdale, 5th Duke of Wellington, Duke of Westminster, Aubrey Lees, John Stourton, Thomas Hunter, Samuel Chapman, Ernest Bennett, Charles Kerr, John MacKie, James Edmondson, Mavis Tate, Marquess of Graham, Margaret Bothamley, Lord Sempill, Earl of Galloway, H. T. Mills, Richard Findlay and Serrocold Skeels. Stourton, Mackie, Hunter, and Tate were conservative M.P.s.
Would revealing the fact that these prominent Conservatives were associated with an anti-semitic organization during the war have harmed the Conservative Party?
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