How we got here

There was no Christmas message by the Queen in 1966. But such was the demand for one that the Queen said in 1967 she would write the message herself that year on a subject that she felt strongly about. There was much speculation as to what that subject was. It turned out to be feminism.
A female Labour MP was inspired by it to press for a similar act for women as the Race Relations Act. This resulted in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. (The Conservatives having unexpectedly won the 1970 election, due, it was widely believed, to Enoch Powell.)
The SDA governed the activities of the Equal Opportunities Commission which campaigned vigorously against the Conservatives' 1979 election manifesto policy of ending the concession whereby foreign men can live in the UK through marriage. (That policy did not, of course, forbid foreign husbands from living in the UK - as was sometimes claimed - because there are many other visas.)
On 7 July 1983 the House of Lords determined that the SDA 1975 did not apply to immigration control.
Therefore the EOC acted illegally.
If the SDA had applied to immigration control then the EOC acted illegally by not supporting my complaint that the British Government allows foreign and Commonwealth men to live in the UK through marriage even though I (and other British men) often cannot live in their countries through marriage. Because the EOC was bound by law to support complaints by men (as well as women). But the EOC's response (13 March 1978, ref: 20S 2793/KA) was that my complaint "does not come within the ambit of our work."
On 12 May 1982 the European Commission of Human Rights found in favour of 3 (foreign) women whose husbands were not allowed to live in the UK. Right in the middle of the Falklands Conflict! So "human rights" were being used to enable foreign men to occupy these islands while 255 British servicemen were being killed. (A similar number - we are told - have subsequently committed suicide.)
In December 1982 the House of Commons voted on allowing foreign husbands to live in the UK through marriage, but the Bill did not pass because many Conservatives believed they should honour their election promise.
In January 1983, however, Mrs. Thatcher said the Conservatives had to be united because there would be an election that year. Despite some continued opposition - one Conservative MP described it as "insane" - the Bill then passed.