BRITAIN'S LADY M.P.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2097, 2 March 1920, Page 4

BRITAIN'S LADY M.P.

FIRST DAY IN COMMONS. AN HISTORIC OCCASION. “I WAS NOT NERVOUS.” The first tiny spent by Lady Aster, M.P., in the House of Commons was historic, not only because for the first time a woman took her seat on benches hitherto sacred to mere men, but because it also marked woifhurs invasion of another sphere of parliamentary activity —the Press gallery. “I was not nervous; some people thought 1 would be, but I was not,'’ declared Lady Astor in the lobby when her ordeal was over, 1 The House was unusually full. The Peers' Gallery was crowded to excess. In the Distinguished Strangers’ Gallery the American Ambassador awaited, the entrance of his fellow-countrywoman. Lord Astor was also looking on, and in the Speaker's Gallery were the elder children of the new member. When Lady Astor arrived, instead of standing at the Bar she took a place on a bench which is technically outside the chamber till the conclusion of preliminary business. There she received the congratulations of several friends. A lit lie later the Premier and Mr Balfour came in, and were joined by Lady Astor, the trio standing in line behind Sir Allan Smith, the new member for Croydon, and ins sponsor.-. When Sir Allan had moved up th the table, the three came forward and stood at the Bar, Mr Balfour at Lady Astor's right hand, and Mr Lloyd George on her left. Up, the door they passed, gravely moving midway, the lady so demure that *it was difficult to credit her with the vivacious sallies with which she had conducted her campaign.' Lady Astor was received by (he clerk, Sir Courtney ilbert, to whom she handed her writ,'tool; the oath, and wrote her name, “Nancy Astor, Plymouth, Sutton," on the roll of members. A FAMOUS SEAT. This completed, she turned with a bright smile to Mr Bonar Law, a nr* seemed on the point of engaging him in conversation, much to the amusement of members. The House cheered, and laughed again, as Mr Will Thorne shouted across to the Prime Minister, “You’ll lose your job now,George." The new member was politely prompted, and then' stepped lightly forward and shook hands with the, Speaker, and all was over. Lady Astor look her seal on tin second bench below the gangway on the Opposition side behind Mr Bottomley. The seal is the one which for many years was associated with the rhetoric of Mr. Tim Healy, and, during the 1.900 parliament with the memorable attacks of Mr Lloyd George on the Unionist Administration. Although Lady Astor appeared in (lie House wearing a hat, and thereby, as it were, established a precedent for women members in then future, it is understood that she intends on most occasions to discard it. FIRST LESSON [X RULES. Lady Astor’s first lesson in parliamentary rules came during a division, when she talked when'she shouldn't. She entered the House from behind the Speaker's chair, and walked down towards the swingdoors. Before reaching (lie Bar, and while still “within the House,” she stopped and carried on conversation with Sir John Rees. “Order, order!” called the Speaker, as she was talking on forbidden ground. Lady Astor did not realise her offence at first. The speaker (railed “Order,' order!” again, and this time (lie new woman M.P. sprang beyond the Bar to safely. Lady Astor, writing to the press, asks to be regarded as a regular working member of parliament, and not as a curiosity. “Through my election campaign,” she says, “1 have been subject to a good deal of misrepresentation, as, instead of reporting the principles for which I stood, the papers were, more anxious to gel good headlines, and so used what they called my witty responses “My -constituents showed that they can take such reports at their real value; but what I feel is that people in other parts of the country must necessarily regard me as a. vulgar if witty mountebank; and this is not at all the reputation that is helpful to a woman in a position of great responsibility, who needs all Hie help that she can get. “1 am quite certain that many of the newspapers meant to, that did, help me, and I therefore appeal to them now to give me real support and chance.”