§ 34. Mr. Winnickasked the Lord President of the Council if he will ask the Services Committee to consider the matter of placing within the precincts of the House statues commemorating champions of universal suffrage in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. PymThe erection of commemorative statues within the precincts of the House is not normally a matter for the Services Committee.
§ Mr. WinnickIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that more appropriate than the question whether there should be a statue of Stanley Baldwin in the Member's Lobby 3 the question of honouring in this building those such as the Chartists and the suffragette leaders who fought to establish universal suffrage in Britain?
§ Mr. PymThat is a matter of opinion and the hon. Gentleman must seek wider support in the House if he wishes ultimate success for that design.
§ Sir John Biggs-DavisonHaving regard to the Conservative Party resolution of 1887 on this matter, Mrs. Pankhurst's Tory connections and the work of the Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association, should we not have bipartisan agreement on a suitable commemoration, although not necessarily this one?
§ Mr. PymThat is a matter that could be pursued. It seems to me that there are many candidates but few pedestals.
§ Sir Anthony MeyerAs one of the consequences o universal suffrage, however regrettable, has been the appearance in strength of the Labour Party, would it not be appropriate to honour the two Prime Ministers who did most to enable the Labour Party to enter this Chamber, Stanley Baldwin and Ramsay MacDonald?
§ Mr. PymThey, too, are candidates and there is a certain amount of support for a statue of one of those late Prime Ministers. We shall, in due course, have to see whether the House will, at some stage, wish to erect it statue of Baldwin and, conceivably, MacDonald, although I doubt whether it will be in the immediate future.