Vignette. An unlikely feminist. [0003]
On 4 December, just after the 1935 general election, a certain A.P. Herbert MP (later Petty Officer A.P. Herbert MP), junior burgess of the University of Oxford, made his maiden speech in the House of Commons.
Stanley Baldwin had just moved to accord government business precedence on Fridays when private members’ bills were previously discussed, to which the opposition raised no objection.
Dixit Mr Herbert: ‘Indeed, the conclusion seems to be that there is no conceivable combination of political conditions in this great democracy which would ever be favourable for tackling or even discussing these problems; and now, when I come here pledged especially by that great constituency, the most remarkable and unlikely constituency to give this message, the first thing that happens is that the Prime Minister says, "The first day on which you might move your little Bill is taken away by the Government." This little Friday, which cannot mean very much to the Government, might mean a great deal to me and to the thousands of unhappy souls who might benefit from this Bill if it were passed into law. [Laughter.] I am surprised at hon. Members on the Labour benches laughing; they are always talking to us about the human problems, and I should like to ask them by what feat of political chemistry they can isolate the problem of the slums from the problems of the sexes, the problem of unhappy souls who may live in the grandest house in Park Lane but would still be wretched, because of these laws. How can they dare to say to me that the bricks and mortar questions of housing are important, but not those problems of the home which our marriage laws create?’