70 • BRITISH UNION OF FASCISTS
in Bonn, Berlin, and Cologne as a link to the Federal German security
service, the Bundesamt fu ̈r Verfassungsschutz. Usually headed by an
MI5 officer, the BSSO staff consisted of Ministry of Defence person-
nel seconded on temporary duty, with a permanent staff of locally
employed Germans.BRITISH UNION OF FASCISTS (BUF).In April 1934MI5began
an investigation into the BUF that showed links between the Ausland
Organisation (AO) in London and Sir Oswald Mosley’s staff. It also
revealed that while the BUF was financed by Benito Mussolini, there
were elements within it whose leaders—W. E. D. Allen,William
Joyce, Raven Thomson, and an Australian-German named Pfister—
had closer ties and sympathies with the Nazis. When these contacts
showed signs of getting out of control, Mosley issued an order for-
bidding any contacts with foreign organizations other than those
under the direct control of his headquarters.
MI5’s investigation was limited by Home Office restrictions,
which limited the collection of information to the deployment of pen-
etration agents, without mail intercepts. However, in January 1934 a
German was arrested in Switzerland and among his papers was the
London address of the AO in a context that suggested a connection
with the Gestapo. This prompted an informal discussion betweenSir
Vernon Kelland Sir Russell Scott, the Home Office permanent un-
dersecretary; Scott decreed that unless in the ordinary course of
MI5’s business it discovered subversive propaganda or other actions
inimical to the interests of our country, the BUF should be left alone.
Nevertheless,Guy Liddellconducted further investigations and in
June 1934, calculating that it would be easier to get authorization to
open mail sent to addresses in Germany than mail coming into Lon-
don, requested and obtained permission to intercept mail being sent
to two addresses inHamburgwith which, MI5 had established, the
AO branch in London was in correspondence. Thus the unpredicted
arrest in Switzerland turned out to be the decisive factor in overcom-
ing the home secretary’s reluctance to allow MI5 to obtain intelli-
gence about the Nazi organizations in England, which led to the
accumulation of extremely extensive and graphic material compro-
mising the Nazis and proving that Mosley was in close contact with
Mussolini and Hitler and also that he was receiving a subsidy from
the former of around £100,000.