Hamm's surname properly. Nonetheless, Hamm quickly became the most vigorous and vocal of Mosley's post-internment supporters. After his discharge, Hamm joined and then took over the British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women, which claimed to look after veterans' interests and converted it to a movement designed to keep Mosley's ideas current. Seeking to keep British fascism alive, Hamm organized a series of meetings in Hyde Park from November 1944 onwards and later moved them to the traditional BUF areas of East London. Hamm's League rallies eventually began to attract thousands, which convinced him that a proper political return was a distinct possibility. Hamm's rallies also attracted significant opposition, with clashes between his supporters and antifascists. However, the group's first public campaign actually took place in the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead, where, with Hamm having become associated with Eleonora Tennant, it helped to organise a petition to keep immigrants out of new houses, ostensibly on the pretext that the housing should be kept for returning soldiers. As a result of his involvement, Hamm secured publicity for the League. It also gave him access to leading figures such as Ernest Benn and Waldron Smithers, who had been involved in the initial drawing up of the petition. Hamm's increasing profile did not go unnoticed by both supporters and opponents, and in 1946, he and his ally Victor Burgess suffered a severe beating from antifascists. (A similar incident in Brighton in 1948 resulted in Hamm spending time in hospital.) Mosley was initially unsure of Hamm, but at a secret meeting in Bethnal Green on 22 December 1946, he endorsed Hamm's leadership and declared him his "East End representative", East London being traditionally the centre of Mosleyite activity. In 1947, however, Mosley censured Hamm for the violent and inflammatory nature of much of his propaganda, which forced him to tone down his rhetoric. Union Movement Hamm soon began calling on Mosley to return to the leadership of British fascism. Hamm incorporated his British League into the Union Movement (UM) immediately upon the latter's foundation in 1948. Hamm became a leading member of the new UM but was considered a spiky figure and was so unpopular at UM headquarters that Mosley sent him to Manchester in 1949. Hamm failed to revitalise the northern branch and contemplated leaving the UM altogether until he was recalled by Mosley in 1952. Returning to London, Hamm became a central figure