He became a leader of the squatter movement in the 1970s, directing homeless Londoners to available space through his agency Ruff Tuff Cream Puff. He also helped create the Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia, an anarchist country within a country, named after a nearby street, Freston Road. Located in the Notting Hill neighborhood, it issued its own passports and stamps and applied to the United Nations for full membership. Geoffrey Howe, then the shadow chancellor of the Exchequer, named Mr. Williams Frestonia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.