ABSTRACT
“Thief” describes how after the war, Bottomley was re-elected to Parliament and then made hundreds of thousands of pounds from bogus war bonds, before in 1922 being tried for fraudulent conversion. The chapter also explores his attempts to launch a new far-right party to the right of the Conservatives. Bottomley established a People’s League, whose vice chairman was Sir George Makgill, the notorious antisemite, plotter and founder of the British secret state. Bottomley was trying to bring together a faction of MPs to the Conservatives’ right. Working in this milieu required funds on a larger scale than anything he had had before. Bottomley’s nemesis was Reuben Bigland, who began as Bottomley’s ally, but then waged a campaign to have his former friend exposed as a rogue. Bottomley prosecuted Bigland for libel, failed and was tried himself. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
