NEWS FOR WOMEN More Women Will Take Part In British Election

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27642, 26 April 1955, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN More Women Will Take Part In British Election

(NJZ. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, April 24. More women than ever before will take part in Britain’s coming General Election. There will be more women candidates, and many more women agents and organisers. So far there are 81 women candidates, and more may be adopted. The Conservative Party, with 30, has the highest number in its history. In 1950 it put forward 28, and in 1951 there were 24. The Labour Party has 40, and the Liberals at present have 11. At the headquarters of all three main parties, women hold important, policyinfluencing appointments. Miss Phyllis Preston, chief press officer for the Liberal Party, said: “Women make first-rate agents. They are hard working and they sometimes show flashes of insight lacking in men.” At the Conservative Party’s headquarters, Mrs Henry Brooke, wife of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, is vice-chairman of the central office. She has a heavy job ahead, dealing with party matters at her desk, help-

ing her husband in his constituency, and touring the country to address political meetings. Calmly efficient and cheerful, 40-year-old Mrs Brooke is the mother of four children. Another woman with big Conservative headquarters responsibilities is Miss Dorothy Spencer, deputy chief organisation officer. She knows the job of election-running inside out, a colleague said. Other Conservative Party women who have already started their six-day week with homework on Sundays are Miss Winifred Crum-Ewing, who helps to arrange television broadcasts, and Miss Elisabeth Sturges-Jones, who is in charge of the women’s publicity. Dr. Edith Summerskill—a tornado of energy—shoulders a heavy burden at Labour Party headquarters. Her own future as a candidate has not yet been decided. She lost her seat at Fulham in the recent redistribution of constituencies. Perhaps the Liberal Party can claim, however, to have the woman with the widest political experience. She is Miss Deborah Allaway, the financial secretary, who has been on the staff for 38 years.