Female MPs march to a different tune today

WHILE watching Baroness Fookes walk at the head of the War Widows’ Association in the March Past on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph, I was driven to reflect on the quality and dignity of the women who once graced the House of Commons.

Janet Fookes, once the MP for a Plymouth seat, is now 86 but she walked from Trafalgar Square to the Cenotaph without flinching and goodness knows for how long before that she was standing about waiting for the march to begin.

When I was elected in 1987, there were only 41 women in total in the House but they were serious, formidable and had beaten the men to get there.

The female MPs of yesteryear included Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Castle, Shirley Williams, Betty Boothroyd, Jo Richardson, Clare Short and Lynda Chalker. Then came positive discrimination and a host of mini-skirted wonders. The walk along Downing Street became a fashion parade.