Archibald Maule Ramsay Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay ( 4 May 1894 – 11 March 1955 ) was a British Army officer who later went into politics as a Scottish Unionist Member of Parliament ( MP ) . From the late 1930s he developed increasingly strident antisemitic views . In 1940 , after his involvement with a suspected spy at the United States embassy , he became the only British MP to be interned under Defence Regulation 18B . Family and early life . Ramsay was from a Scottish aristocratic family ( he was a descendant of the Earls of Dalhousie ) . He attended Eton College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , joining the Coldstream Guards in 1913 . After the outbreak of World War I he served in France for two years . He received a severe head injury before being invalided out and transferred to the War Office in London . Here he met and married on 30 April 1917 Lady Ninian Crichton - Stuart , née Hon . Ismay Preston , daughter of Viscount Gormanston and widow of Lord Ninian Crichton - Stuart MP , who had been killed on active service in the war . His wife was already the mother of three surviving children . The couple went on to have four sons together , the eldest of whom died on active service in 1943 . As the war was coming to an end , Ramsay served at the British War Mission in Paris . He retired from the Army with the rank of Captain in 1920 . He spent the 1920s as a company director , near Arbroath , Angus , and became active in the Conservative Party . In the 1931 general election , Ramsay was elected as MP for Peebles and Southern Midlothian . He was regarded as a likable and charming man ( he was nicknamed ' Jock ' among friends ) , who had a sincere and earnest approach and was an engaging and persuasive public speaker . However , Ramsay was not considered as a potential candidate for high office ; the most senior appointment he obtained was as a Government member of the Potato Marketing Board . Spanish Civil War . After the Spanish Civil War broke out , Ramsay became a strong supporter of the Nationalists under Franco , largely arising out of his opposition to the anti - clericism of the Spanish Republicans and their attacks on the Roman Catholic Church ( despite being an Anglican himself ) . In the early months of the war he objected in Parliament to what he saw as bias in British Broadcasting news reports on Spain , and pointed to links between Spanish Republicans and the Soviet Union . Late in 1937 , Ramsay formed the ' United Christian Front ' to combat attacks on Christianity " which emanate from Moscow " . Many distinguished peers and churchmen joined , but the organisation was criticised in a letter to " The Times " by senior religious figures including William Temple ( Archbishop of York ) and Donald Soper . The objectors said that , while they supported Christian unity , they could not support the United Christian Front as it was mainly concerned with the Spanish Civil War and " adopts a view of it which seems to us ill - founded " . Ramsay became aware of a plan to hold a conference of freethinkers in London in 1938 , which was being organised by the International Federation of Freethinkers . Together with his supporters in Parliament , he denounced this as a " Godless Conference " which was organised by a Moscow - based organisation . On 28 June 1938 he asked for permission to introduce as a Private Member ' s Bill the " Aliens Restriction ( Blasphemy ) Bill " ( which would have prohibited conference attendees from entering Britain ) ; he won the vote by 165 to 134 , but the bill went no further . Ramsay ' s opposition to Communism led him to look to other countries for examples . On 13 January 1938 he had given a speech to the Arbroath Business Club in which he observed that Hitler ' s antipathy to Jews arose from his knowledge " that the real power behind the Third International is a group of revolutionary Jews " . Some time later in 1938 he read " The Rulers of Russia " by Irish Catholic priest Denis Fahey , which contended that of 59 members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1935 , 56 were Jews and the remaining three were married to Jews . At the same time , Ramsay was also becoming more sympathetic to Germany ; in September he wrote to " The Times " to defend the right of the Sudetenland to self - determination . Anti - semitism . On 15 November 1938 , Ramsay was invited to a luncheon party at the German Embassy in London , where he met some noted British sympathisers with Nazi Germany , including Barry Domvile . In December he introduced another Private Member ' s Bill called the " Companies Act ( 1929 ) Amendment Bill " , which would require shares in news agencies and newspapers to be held openly and not through nominees . In his speech promoting the Bill , Ramsay claimed the press was being manipulated and controlled by " international financiers " based in New York who wanted to " thrust this country into a war " . Ramsay was given permission to introduce his Bill by 151 to 104 ; again it went no further . In December 1938 " The Fascist " ( journal of the Imperial Fascist League ) declared that Ramsay had " become Jew - wise " ( a term which indicated someone who had come to believe in a Jewish conspiracy ) . Controversy . On 10 January 1939 the Hon . Mrs Ismay Ramsay gave another speech to the Arbroath Business Club , at which she claimed the national press was " largely under Jewish control " , that " an international group of Jews . . . were behind world revolution in every single country " and that Hitler " must . . . have had his reasons for what he did " . The speech was reported in the local newspaper and attracted the attention of the rabbi of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation , Dr Salis Daiches , who wrote to " The Scotsman " challenging Mrs Ramsay to produce evidence . Ramsay wrote on her behalf citing Father Fahey ' s booklet , and the resulting correspondence lasted for nearly a month — including a letter from 11 Ministers of the Church of Scotland in the County of Peebles repudiating the views of their MP . Some members of Ramsay ' s local Conservative Association in Peebles were not pleased by what they considered negative publicity . However , Ramsay reassured them that he would continue to be a supporter of Neville Chamberlain and the National Government . Ramsay made attempts to make controversial speeches to private meetings rather than in public . On 27 April he spoke to a branch of the ( anti - semitic ) Nordic League in Kilburn , attacking Neville Chamberlain for introducing conscription " at the instigation of the Jews " and claiming that the Conservative Party " relies on . . . Jew money " . The Right Club . After the controversy over Mrs Ramsay ' s January speech died down , Ramsay decided to make others aware of the threat so that they would rid the Conservative Party of Jewish control . To this end he set up the Right Club in May 1939 , noting down those who had joined in a red leather - bound and lockable ledger ( the " Red Book " ) . There were 135 names on the men ' s list and 100 on a separate ladies ' list ; the members of the Right Club include a broad spectrum of those known to be anti - semitic ( including William Joyce and MP John Hamilton Mackie ) , those who were in some respects " fellow travellers " with anti - semitism , and some friends of Ramsay who may have joined without knowing the actual functions of the club . At its early meetings , the 5th Duke of Wellington took the chair . The logo of the Right Club , seen on its badge , was of an eagle killing a snake with the initials " P . J . " ( which stood for " Perish Judah " ) . While Ramsay was attempting to launch the Right Club , he spoke at a meeting of the Nordic League at the Wigmore Hall at which a reporter from the " Daily Worker " was present and reported Ramsay as saying that they needed to end Jewish control , " and if we don ' t do it constitutionally , we ' ll do it with steel " – a statement greeted with wild applause . The popular magazine " John Bull " picked up on the report and challenged Ramsay to contradict it or explain himself . Ramsay ' s local constituency newspaper , the " Peeblesshire Advertiser " , made the same challenge and Ramsay responded by admitting he had made the speech , citing the fact that three halls had refused to host the meeting as evidence of Jewish control . Outbreak of war . On the second day of World War II , 4 September 1939 , Ramsay sat in the library of the House of Commons writing a paraphrase of " " Land of Hope and Glory " " , which was later to be printed and distributed by the Right Club . It ran : When the Secretary of State for War Leslie Hore - Belisha ( a frequent target of antisemitism ) was forced out of office , Ramsay distributed in the House of Commons many copies of " Truth " ( a magazine closely connected to Neville Chamberlain ) which argued that Hore - Belisha was no loss to the government . He also put down a motion which cited the regretful reactions of many newspapers to Hore - Belisha ' s sacking as evidence of Jewish control of the press . Privately , Ramsay had been invited to some of the " Secret Meetings " at which right - wing opponents of the war discussed tactics . However , after they grew to be dominated by Oswald Mosley and his supporters , Ramsay withdrew . The Right Club spent the Phoney War period distributing propaganda in the form of leaflets and " sticky - backs " ( adhesive labels containing slogans ) , with Ramsay later explaining that he wanted " to maintain the atmosphere in which the " Phoney War " , as it was called , might be converted into an honourable negotiated peace . " In addition to Ramsay ' s " Land of dope and Jewry " rhyme , the slogans included " War destroys workers " and " This is a Jews ' War " ; some of the leaflets asserted " the stark truth is that this war was plotted and engineered by the Jews for world - power and vengeance " . House of Commons . In Parliament , Ramsay attacked the internment procedure of Defence Regulation 18B and opposed the arrest of anti - semitic speaker Richard A . V . " Jock " Houston under the Public Order Act 1936 . On 20 March 1940 , he asked a question about a propaganda radio station set up by Germany which gave its precise wavelength , which was suspected by both his allies and opponents as a subtle way of advertising it . On 9 May he asked for an assurance from the Home Secretary " that he refuses to be stampeded . . . by a ramp in our Jew - ridden press ? " His increasingly open anti - semitism was picked up by Labour and other MPs and referred to in debate . Internment . One of the last members to join the Right Club was Tyler Kent , a cypher clerk at the Embassy of the United States in London . Ramsay gave Kent the ledger containing the list of Right Club members for safe - keeping . Kent was stealing top - secret documents from the embassy and had already fallen under suspicion . On 20 May , after US ambassador had agreed to waive Kent ' s diplomatic immunity , his flat was raided and he was arrested ; the locked Red Book was forced open . Ramsay ' s involvement with Kent was extremely concerning to the authorities as Ramsay enjoyed Parliamentary privilege ; if Kent had given the stolen documents to Ramsay and he had spoken about them in Parliament , it would have been impossible to prevent their publication . The Cabinet decided to extend Defence Regulation 18B to give more power to detain people suspected of disloyalty . Ramsay was arrested and lodged in Brixton Prison on an order under Regulation 18B on 23 May 1940 . He engaged solicitors ( Oswald Hickson , Collier & Co . ) through whom he attempted to defend his reputation . When Lord Marley said in the House of Lords that Ramsay was Hitler ' s chosen Gauleiter for Scotland in the event of an invasion , Oswald Hickson , Collier immediately sent off a letter of complaint . As an 18B detainee , Ramsay ' s only legal method of challenging his detention was to appeal to the Advisory Committee under Norman Birkett which recommended continued detention . However , as a Member of Parliament , some of Ramsay ' s colleagues argued that his detention was a breach of parliamentary privilege . The detention was referred to the Committee of Privileges , but on 9 October it reported that detention was not a breach of privilege . Libel trial . " The New York Times " published an article on " Britain ' s Fifth Column " in July 1940 which claimed " informed American sources said that he had sent to the German Legation in Dublin treasonable information given to him by Tyler Kent " . Ramsay sued for libel , resulting in a trial in July 1941 . He asserted his loyalty to Britain , however some of Ramsay ' s answers did him damage ; for example when asked if he wanted Nazism to be defeated , he replied , substituting " Germany " for " Nazism " ; " Not only Germany , but also the Judaic menace " . In summing - up the Judge said he was convinced Hitler would call Ramsay " friend " and that Ramsay was disloyal in heart and soul to his King , his Government , and the people . However , the " New York Times " could not defend its story , having found no evidence that Ramsay had communicated anything to the German Legation and it was found guilty . The Judge awarded a farthing ( ¼d ) in damages , the customary award for a libel plaintiff who technically won a case but was adjudged to have brought it on themselves . If the defendant in a libel case pays into court beforehand a sum not less than the damages ultimately awarded , they are not liable for costs ; as the " New York Times " had paid £75 into court , Ramsay became liable for both prosecution and defence costs . Another consequence of the trial was that Ramsay ' s local Conservative Association disowned him and asked David Robertson MP to undertake constituency work . Subsequent political activity . Ramsay continued occasionally to put down written Parliamentary questions from jail , sometimes taking up the cases of fellow 18B internees . His eldest son Alec , serving in the Scots Guards , died of pneumonia on active service in South Africa in August 1943 . Ramsay was finally released from detention on 26 September 1944 , being one of the last few 18B detainees . He immediately returned to Westminster to resume his seat in the Commons , causing at least one member to storm out of the chamber . His only significant action in the remainder of the Parliament was a motion calling for the reinstatement of the 1275 Statute of the Jewry passed under King Edward I . He did not defend his seat in the 1945 general election . In 1952 Ramsay wrote " The Nameless War " as an autobiography and a plea to justify his actions . Much of the book consisted of an antisemitic conspiracy theory re - interpreting the whole of modern history as a Jewish campaign for world domination , quoting extensively from " the Protocols of the Elders of Zion " whose authenticity he took for granted , and adding such assertions as that Calvin had been a Jew whose real name was " Cohen " , that Cromwell had been " a paid agent of the Jews " and that the entire English Civil War and the execution of Charles I were staged for the sole purpose of allowing Jews to return to England . The book is still current in extreme - right circles . Ramsay attended some far - right political meetings but did not attract attention . He died in 1955 .