Yvette Cooper (& Liz Kendall) wearing Suffragette colours in the House of Commons
Below is an extract from a BBC report from 2024 about how a section (not all) of the Suffragettes carried out a campaign of direct action to get votes for women before 1914 (the vote for women was implemented in 1918 and 1928- the tactics worked)
In March 1912 she and fellow members, armed with hammers, participated in a window-smashing campaign in London – and she was jailed for two months. In July 1912, following the arrest of the group’s leader, the suffragettes turned to arson. Lenton and Olive Wharry conducted a series of arson attacks, and were arrested. The arson attacks were initially extremely high-risk for the activists, though they were careful never to put the public at risk. “We only just got out in time on one occasion,” said Lenton.
One modern supporter of the suffragettes is the current Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. I’ve made the point before that I dont think she paid enough attention in history lessons when younger. Her attempt to classify the direct action tactics of Palestine Action as terrorism of course had an historic echo in how the State treated Suffragette activists.
Ultimately as I’m sure Cooper would agree they were on the right side of history and such tactics played an important role in creating the Parliamentary democracy we have in 2025
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