A Right Royal Appalling Irony

Not all men had the Parliamentary vote when Britain went to war in 1914. Politicians didn't want to take all the blame for the War. Hence the 1917 Representation of the People Bill. Which extended the franchise to women as well as working men. And which came into force on 6 February 1918. The deaths of so many young men made it obvious that many young women wouldn't be able to marry. This was a major reason why Prime Minister Lloyd George changed his mind about women having the vote. Patricia Hewitt, before becoming Tony Blair's Equality Minister, rightly predicted that her - and others - campaign to defeat Mrs Thatcher's 1979 policy to stop foreign men using marriage to live in the UK would be successful, just as women's struggle to win the vote was successful. Thus the appalling First World War, fought by Britain to preserve the British Empire, has resulted in foreign and Commonwealth men being allowed to occupy the UK by finding someone to marry. Which is a major reason for the UK having more young men than young women, for the past many decades. That is ironic, and has obvious unhappy consequences. Today's centenary is being celebrated in the Houses of Parliament. But 6 February is a day of mourning. In 1952 King George VI died. His daughter sparked modern feminism with her Christmas Day Message in 1967. Please see this blog "How we got here" on 17 April 2016.