Tommy Moran

Thomas P. "Tommy" Moran was a leading member of the British Union of Fascists and a close associate of Oswald Mosley. Initially a miner, Moran later became a qualified engineer. He joined the RAF at 17 and later served in the Royal Naval Reserve (R.N.V.R.) as an engine room artificer 2Entry into politics Moran first entered politics as a member of the Labour Party, although he did not reach any position of influence. He left Labour in 1933 to join the BUF and set about organising the local branch in Derby. Moran quickly gained a reputation as a skilful speaker at BUF events and before long was called to the National Headquarters to help organise the BUF as a whole. Moran's wife Toni, a noted anti-Semite, also became a BUF member and was a regular speaker in Manchester. 2BUF activism In 1934 Moran was sent by Oswald Mosley to south Wales due in large part to his mining background, following advice from J.F.C. Fuller that the BUF should target areas by sending organisers that the local population could identify with. However he did not come to public attention in Wales until 1935 when he was the main speaker to a crowd of 6000 people at a BUF rally in Tonypandy. Moran did not get the opportunity to say much, however, as a sizeable group in the crowd had come to oppose the rally and he and his fellow speakers were stoned off the stage. It marked the end of the BUF as a force in Wale