A Churchillian Virtue

"Yet one of his major virtues was that he never allowed even dismal failure to drive him slinking into his bunker (metaphorical), cowed, with his tail between his legs, and unable to do anything except concentrate on his grievances and his battered ego for some time to come."
Roy Jenkins, Churchill.

Coincidentally, Winston Churchill was UK Home Secretary at the time of the Suffragette hunger strikes and force feeding discussed in the previous post, and responsibility fell to him. It is said that he generally avoided excessive heavy-handedness. Churchill favoured an early extension of the vote for some women, but only if it could be done without harming Liberal electoral prospects (such as might be the result of a high property qualification). No form could be devised which met the requirements, so nothing was done. Churchill's proposed solution was a referendum on the issue; however, the PM (Asquith) did not agree.

The force feeding of Suffragettes caused a public outcry. The Government responded with the Cat and Mouse Act. Under this Act, the Suffragettes were allowed to go on hunger strike. Force feeding was not used; when they were very weak, they were released from prison. Once they had regained their strength they were arrested again, on trivial grounds, and the process started over.

The question of the vote for women got shelved when war broke out in 1914.

More on the Suffragettes.