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The Blueshirts were a fascist movement in the Irish Free State. They sent volunteers to fight on the side of Franco in the Spanish Civil War. If you're young enough to be an MP or Lord (i.e. not dead) you're young enough to give cover and support to fascist street movements.
Eoin O'Duffy was a commander in the IRA, went on to be commissioner of the Garda, was inspired by Mussolini, and took 700 from Ireland to Spain to fight for Franco, although they didn't really do any fighting and returned home in 1937. Eoin O'Duffy in full military uniform standing on the back seat of a car
This idea that old far right Tories are essentially harmless ignores two things, that unlike neo-nazis they have considerable control over racist state violence, and that far-right Conservatism has strong roots in Britain's colonial history, predating the Nazis by centuries.
When Jacob Rees-Mogg spoke at the 2013 annual dinner of the Traditional Britain Group, which calls for repatriation of all poc from the UK, he was flanked by Gregory Lauder-Frost on one side and Calum Rupert Heaton-Gent on the other. independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi… Rees Mogg photo at the Traditional Britain Group dinner.
Heaton-Gent was a Conservative Party member and active in Conservative Future, the same organisation that Theodora Dickinson was working for a while back.
Gregory Lauder-Frost is more significant: was political secretary of the Monday Club at the time it was banned from the Conservative Party in 2001, and now chairs the Traditional Britain Group. The Monday Club called for repatriation and supported Rhodesia within the Tory party. The Monday Club pamphlets - 'the  Population Problem in Britian' and 'Who goes home?'
Lauder-Frost is chairman of the UK branch of the Arktos group. Arktos is the publisher that was until 2018 part of Richard Spencer's AltRight corporation.
John Bercow, while he's apologised for his involvement, was secretary of the Monday Club's immigration and repatriation group in the early '80s, having run for president on a ticket saying 'The strengthening of our national identity demands a programme of assisted repatriation'. John Bercow in the speaker's chair grinning
In 1990, the Monday Club hosted Ian Smith at a dinner in his honour, backed by Rhodesian flags. People often forget Ian Smith continued as an opposition party leader in Zimbabwe until 1987. Ian Smith at the Monday Club
"less menacing than it might seem given all the people there are over 70 and wearing blazers or fleeces" Pinochet in a blazer with Thatcher
"The 1932 election was marked by increasing repression of Republican and Socialist groups... the Chief of Police, Eoin O'Duffy, touring Bishop's palaces with Special Branch files which, he claimed, proved the rapid spread of communism in Ireland"

libcom.org/library/bluesh…
The two people flanking Ian Smith in this photo are Ann and Nicholas Winterton. Ann Winterton remained a Tory MP until 2010, with a couple of brief breaks from the Tory whip after each time she told a joke about immigrants to the UK being slaughtered. Ian Smith photo at the Monday Club
More on Lauder-Frost: direct links to David Irving, Mussolini's grand-daughter Alessandra Mussolini, and far right South African conservative party. Not to mention defrauding over £100k from the NHS.

heraldscotland.com/news/12579799.… excerpt from Herald article
You can argue they were referencing Irish fash or you can argue they combined Tory blue with shirts to make an alternative to brownshirts and blackshirts and accidentally came up with the same name as another historical fascist movement. Does it matter?
Tory right links to open fascist and white nationalist movements are important, but there is also the more common defence of the British Empire and colonialism, which predated, inspired, and outlasted many 20th century fascist movements.

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