Captain Robert Gordon Canning
The author warns of the great dangers in getting involved in foreign quarrels in which no British interest is at stake.
Robert Gordon-Canning could count Lord Byron amongst his ancestors. He gained field promotions to the rank of Captain in the Cavalry Corps during the First World War, and was awarded the Military Cross.
Afterwards he travelled to Morocco where the “Riff War” was raging. He became a mediator between the French and the Riffian leaders. He later espoused the Arab cause in Palestine as he opposed the Zionist seizure of their lands. He was an expert on the Arabic and Muslim world. Thus Gordon-Canning became Foreign Affairs Writer for “Action” the British Union newspaper. He wrote the BUF booklets “Arab or Jew” and “The Spirit of Fascism”. He was also the originator of the BUF anti-war slogan “Mind Britain’s Business”.
His examination of the “Balance of Power” policies that had been adopted in the past come in for heavy criticism. The League of Nations is attacked and Gordon-Canning says “NO!, British Union will have nothing to do with a League of Nations as drawn up by the gorged and satiated victors of Versailles”.
The way to peace, he says, is by strictly avoiding involvement in matters not concerned with the well-being of Britain and her Empire.pp24
