On the breakfast, the official foreign exchange receipts from Kudall sales has been depleted from over $3.0 billion monthly in 2014 to $0 today, according to CBN. What does this mean for an all-producing economy like Nigeria? Also on the breakfast, Ministry of Finance's budget to national planning denies allegation of budget padding leveled against it. And we have a usual Nisrpa review segment going through the Nisrpa headlines, analyzing the biggest stories of the day. All right, we're back with the breakfast of plus-CB Africa, just trying to get some coffee into my system so we can have a good show of mercy. Very good morning to you. Morning to you. Interesting. It's a beautiful day. I hope you've had your morning tea and we're ready and set to have a fantastic show today. We have interesting conversations ahead with an interesting lineup of guests.  My name is Kofi Bartels. I am messy. Yes indeed. As usual, we start with our top-trending segment. We usually look at the top-trending stories on social media. We bring them on TV. Look at what Nigerians are talking about, look at what the world is talking about. The first one is another market fire. I mean, this year has been a year of fires. I remember in Pohakot they had several fires back to back to back. It was almost as if something was wrong, you know, they began to say, maybe we need to have a go and ask God for mercy, maybe we've done something wrong. In Lagos, we've had dollars and three market fires, you know, this year. This time, we're looking at Onitsha, main market. And this is a very popular market for anyone who has traveled through Onitsha, at least moving from east to west, east to west and part of Nigeria by road. Like I've done a number of times, you would be familiar with the Onitsha main market or like some of my friends would call it Onitsha main market. So it's unfortunate. It's a very important market, not just in a number of states, but in Nigeria, as far as the economy of Nigeria is concerned, we here, some people call it the biggest market in West Africa. But the fire we had was raging, it tore through a section of the market. It's not the first time this year that we've seen something like that happen in that market. Some sources quote some traders in the market saying that two blocks of fire have been got at a time, reports, you know, got to the press. A section of the market known as Kano Street is what we are talking about, where the fire affected. Yesterday morning, we hear that the number of state fire service were there. They tried to extinguish the fire, but the fire refused to go away. You know, the fire service in the number of states are saying that they were promptly at the scene. Immediately they got the alert that the fire was on. It started about 1 a.m., according to the fire service, and it quickly got there. So far, at the time the report was being filed, they had gone to refill the fire, trucks with water. They had done that twice, you know, two times with water. And the third time they went to fill the trucks with water and the fire was too big for them to handle, it seems.  Sometimes you can blame them because they just do what they can with the resources they're given. But this isn't the first time the Onitsha, a section, let's call it, of the Onitsha main market has been gutted by fire in recent months, and it's really a sad one. Well, and that's very true and correct. So it brings us back, you know, to the conversation of what we actually learn from time to time when it has to do with the fire. Now, I remember VV Leader, there was a report from the Anambra fire service. He said that it recorded a total of 114 fire outbreaks, which resulted in 15 deaths and five injuries across the state in 2021.  It has become, you know, part of the system that every other time there's fire. But one thing about this is that we're excited that, you know, no life was actually lost, although you have properties according to the report, you know, what millions that have been lost. But as long as there's life, there's hope. But I think that, you know, we need to also look at what the functions of the fire services, even though it's also highly dependent on the government. And so one of you, you begin to say that, should we begin to think that the, you know, function of the fire services is just limited to rescue operations? It goes beyond rescue operation. And it's important that we prevent, because prevention is part of it. As much as we tackle the fire, prevention is part of it. So yes, it's almost about where, about the time where you have a lot of fire incidents, because usually at this point, so if it's like a seasonal, where you have fire outbreaks in different parts of the country, and at this time, there's also going to be, you know, a lot of fire outbreak. Well, it's expected, we expect that, you know, the fire service across, you know, different states of the Federation will step up to her responsibility of ensuring that the populace, the people are educated on the danger of fire and how to prevent it. So we don't even have to get to a point where we're talking about rescue, education, sensitization. That's what it should be. That's it. So if we're big on educating the people, talking about it, creating awareness, what people need to do, the practices, behavior, and what people need to do, the active view, then it would actually go a long way in helping us getting to this point. So we prevent the issue. I mean in medicine they'll say it's preventive medicine. It just prevents us from getting to the actual problem. Right. It's unfortunate, but I hope that we can do better. And that's what it is. It's also commendable that, you know, from the report that the fire service, as soon as the call was put across, you know, to the fire service, they responded, you know, talking about a response and we hope that that happens. But we're saying that if we have to be progressive, if we have to be, if we have to move forward, then we need to do a lot of prevention, preventives. So we don't have to experience the fire. Yeah. Indeed.  Like we say in this part of the world.  But they are no volume of trading in Odecha Market. It's said to be in excess of three billion U.S. dollars. You know, I'm sure that if you look at the tax that is collected on a daily basis from the market, we're talking about, you know, hundreds of millions of Nara every day. That being said, when you look at these markets around not just Lagos or Onitsha, rather Nambra seed, we look at markets in Lagos state, which is commercial of Nigeria, but other parts of the country. You would want to see a conversory investment in these markets, a conversory investment in the market. At least let's see that if they're paying monies to people in the market, to market leaders who are there to introspect some of these monies to the government of the day, there should be a program to upgrade these markets, to make sure that they look like markets. We see in other parts of the world, you know, invest in the markets. You're making money, hundreds of millions every day from markets in Lagos, in Onitsha main market to make hundreds of millions of Nara every day and pay for this one, pay for that one, pay a container of loading fee. You know, they pay for all these things. So why can't you as a government, state government in Lagos, state government in the Nambra state, you know, why can't you say we're going to have a standard fire fighting station in the market, in the market? All right, we're going to have a standard fire fighting station in the market, not down the road, not the next nearest point, no, in the market. These guys are going to be there two, four, seven. They don't need to wait for anyone to come from far. Number two, why can't they build fire hydrants? All right, have water in the market, have fire hydrants all over the place. So these guys don't need to go back and fill their trucks. You see the firefighting chief, the head of fire service in the Nambra said, or in Onitsha said they had to fill, at the time the press was interviewing him, they're going to fill their truck the third time. You know, that shows to an extent, maybe may give an indication of why they found it hard to put that fire out. So they went to the one truck, one truck, finish exhausted water in, went to refill, came back, second one exhausted the water, went to refill, came back, third one exhausted the water. With all the money they're making from these markets, can't they put a water system in that market and then have fire hydrants at different points? You know, we do things supposedly, you know, we just have people build shops and do everything. It's all skyrocketing.  You go to Balungu Market here, where sometimes you want to get my stuff on a chip, I go there messy. You have to wait through. Sometimes you can't even get network. Nalai, messy Nalai, messy does not go to Balungu Market. You can't even get network. I like how you speculate. You know, is it a lie, it's true. Okay, I'm sure the camera guy is on the guy. No, no, but to be very honest, if we talk about it so yesterday. You can't just land, you can't just land, you can't just land, you can't get network at Balungu Market messy. Sometimes if you go to Balungu Market. Coffee is not even Balungu Market. Just tell your people, that's it. Yeah, okay, just tell your people, you're not going to be able to get me for the next two, three or four hours, you'll be hustling for your things and argue with the traders. So the point I'm making is, we need to see government putting in commensurate investment, investment into these markets to build proper markets, pull them down, build proper markets, make sure it's well-planned and arranged, so that fire will not find it easy to jump from one shop to the other. Okay.  I have been, I've visited, you know, a scene where fire happened and it's very emotional. You've been around the market, right? Yes, I've been around the market, not necessarily maybe in Lagos, but I've been around the scene where fire happened. Is it Rua what? No, it's a Kaikau Kua. My good old guy, I love that one. And it's, you know why I say it's emotional because you would see people have lost a lot. It's a very, it's an emotional scene to be in. You know, a market was one of the most planned markets in this country. They planned, they planned, I've been going there since I was a child, this is in Kalabawa by the way, and they planned that market so well, they had an incinerator. When I was a kid, one of my uncles would take me to that market, Kaikau Kua market in Kalabawa, okay? And I would sit in the kawao, he would sit in the kawao, his wife goes to buy, to shop in the market. There was an incinerator building, building where they would take the refuse, put it inside and burn it. That's how I knew what I'd incinerate. No, no, that's history. That was, when you enter through the other gate, the main gates, the main main gates, you see a building, you know what? Nowadays what they use it for, last time I checked, they've turned it into a shop and they collect rent from people to sell there. I'm not sure you want, if you visit that market, you probably might be traumatized. It was a war plan when I was a kid, that market happened. You might be traumatized. So my point is, it's unfortunate. I understand that the people need to work, you know, it's okay to say yes, people are making a lot of money from the market, revenue generation, but we can't continue like this.  And maybe you should just say, okay, well, what's one of those things that happened? But it's unfortunate, because if you're not talking about the loss of life, you're going to be talking about the loss of properties, what millions of dire. And you don't want to be around that scene. People have lost their livelihood. Some of these persons have even cash, physical cash. In those shops? Yes. They can't appreciate cash. I'm not even joking. I'm not even joking. Coffee, I'm not even joking. You know, somebody that's the case, it's unfortunate. But the issue is, we need to get back to the root. And if you have issues occurring over time, over and over, you haven't occurrence, then what do we do? How do we prevent it? Because we need to get to the point where we look at prevention. We need to stop it. So what are we learning? Yesterday, one of the traders was telling me, because we had an argument, not an argument debate. You know, as to whether the markets were shut down in Lagos on Saturday, when the Yellow Way of Baramatu Kingdom held his homecoming presidential campaign rally at the Slimba Lago Stadium. Some were saying markets were ordered to close down in Lagos, the others were saying markets were not ordered. Let's do that for another day. But one of them was giving me his own experience. In the market where he operates in Lagos state, to get his container in, he has to pay some money to offload his container to the market unit. Maybe some agrarians around. To offload his container, he has to settle people and he has a fee. There's a standard market fee he pays apart from settling agrarians to offload the container. They'll come and stand there, invest the money. So these guys go through a lot on a daily basis to just to do business, to just to survive. And their contribution to the economy cannot be understated. Okay, so now, if you are getting these amounts from them as government, what are you giving them back in return as services? That's all the government is meant to do. Kofi, that's a very valid question. That's all the government is meant to do. So the government of Anambra state needs to wake up to its response when you say, we're making money from these market, a market in Onitsha that has a volume of trade in excess of $3 billion annually, right? And there's a lot that goes out of the system that we don't even calculate. What are we gonna give back to them? So that what the government of Anambra state needs to do? Well, we can also not overemphasize the fact that the function of the fire service is not limited to rescue operation. We need to get to the point where we ensure that there's a preventive, let's think about that. If we work on that, maybe we might not even be in that situation, we'll talk about the fire. But quickly, Nigerian issues travel advisory to Nigerians going to the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe. And that has been, you know, that has gotten a lot of Nigerians talking because the federal government seemed to be very concerned as she has advised. I like to say she, every other time. We get that, you know, countries are she. No, we're not dragging, you can't say she.  We're not dragging, you guys can't have it. We can't ask you. So the advice has been put out to Nigerians. I mean, I'm really shocked because when I start this I'm like, oh, really, that's very interesting. But I hope there's no kind of sentiment. There's no emotions around all of this because if you talk about advice, and you know the recent one and how we have reacted over time, but let's quickly get to it. It's that Nigerians have been advised, you know, those who are traveling to United Kingdom, the United States and America, and some other country in Europe have been asked to be security conscious following the issue of thefts. He said that it's worried about the rate of Nigerian travelers have lost, you know, cash, international passports and their belongings in two countries. And so that's why, you know, this is coming out. And Lai Mohamed, of course, in an event, you know, put that out, I'd like to quote this. He said, the most recent victims of this travelers to the United Kingdom, most of whom are disposed of their belongings at high-brow shops, just like, you know, you talk about Victoria Island now you're here and then all of a sudden, that happens. You're particularly in high streets of Oxford. This is not your typical travel advisory issuing such as within the rights of the embassies and high commissions as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But I just said it's merely a piece of advice in Nigerians who may be visiting the affected parts of the world. Merci, it's interesting. Why not? So in this, this, you know, some people say travel advisory. It's not travel advisory because you usually travel advisory, you know, officially you issue a statement. People can go to government website and see it there. But this was, like you said, the minister giving a speech or giving them, sorry, addressing the press, okay? On the scorecard of the administration of President Mount Wari, this is a fifth edition of the PNB administration's scorecard series in Abuja. Okay, and he said that he's come to the attention of Nigerians, government, the Nigerian travelers to the U.S. and some countries in Europe are having their belongings, especially money and international passers-by that hire it. So I don't know, is this the case of people reported to him? Maybe they have, maybe they've been getting reports and it's okay to advise them. But should it come in such a press conference alone or such an event alone? Can there be an advisory issue to Nigerians, not just from the Ministry of Information, you know, portals, you know, social media handles on the website, but from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, very important, because Nigerians are traveling should, and I expect to always refer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website and online platforms, I mean. So is this, if this is, if it is this important, why hasn't the government or the Federal Republic of Nigeria put out an advisory, official advisory on all its- Are you saying it's not important? No, I'm saying if it is this important, why haven't they put out an advisory and official statement out there on the places that people who are traveling to other parts of the world, even on Nigerians will go check, you know, if our American, you know, I will be checking the American, you know, Department of States website to, you know, states.gov.us or something like that to know what to do. I'll be looking at their, to be getting our lets, you know, COVID is out there, there's some things that are out there, you know, but if you just give a statement, I do not know, I'm just injecturing here. If it's not on the website somewhere I can go to, then it is what, I mean, if it's important, you must make a statement of it. Okay, that's number one. Number two, is this in reaction to, you know, the advisories that the U.S., the U.K. and other countries have issued, so okay, let's also do them. Do me, I do you. Ask them, let's paper them. Ask the sweet thoughts, if they paint them. No. Ask them, if they paint them. But you know, coffee in the local currency is like, do me, I do you. Yes, okay, so you just say do me, I do you, case. You know, that's another question I'll ask. The third question is this. Are Nigerians facing a better situation in the country? You know, if you're saying that, oh, they're having their, their money stolen and all that, because they would also want to ask the government, how far have you fed in protecting us at home? How far have you fed in making sure that our belongings are safe? How far have you fed in making sure that we are not kidnapped? All right? How far have you fed in making sure that our children are not kidnapped, you know, and killed? We saw what happened in Port Harcourt recently. I'm not saying that Muhammad is in charge of security, but as a midst of information, when you say stuff like this, we will also say, you know, are you protecting us as a government securing us? Are they, you know, looking after our welfare? These are the questions to ask. But if this is the case, then people should be careful. They should be careful. But why do we have official statements?  So it's just a generic situation. As much as you be careful in your home country, it's important you're careful outside. That's what it is. But, you know, you have raised very valid questions, if that's really important. But of course, the minister stated clearly that it's just, you know, mere advice, it's not necessarily that advice. But let me say, some of these things seem to trivialize the important things that we're talking about. When the United States issues travel advice free, they're not talking about, you know, it's just a statement by- They're not talking about generic issues. Yeah, this is a statement by the ministry, it's not a travel advice, this is a statement by the minister of information of the entire country that's gonna go around the world. And you're advising people, you know, about pickpockets.  I mean, everywhere, in Johannesburg, in New York City, in Paris, in Brussels, you know, in London, I'm sure you have people, even the locals themselves who are being picked. So these are ordinary things. So they're picking people's pockets. Are they targeting Nigerians? Is it happening on a larger scale than normal? Is there an unusual situation that you have to evacuate?  Let's not trivialize these things. You know what I'm saying? But until we get to it, we need to move on so we can, I mean, you know, quickly move to other issues. But until we get to a point where we have those who are in the political class who care really about the people, because we see the body language over time. Every other time in Nigerian is affected outside of Nigeria, just like, you know, Kofi had mentioned, there would be question whether or not we have better treatment in Nigeria or whether we're treated well. I mean, you need to ask yourself, what's the essence of all of these exodus? Why are people really moving away from their hometown? So up until we get to a point where we have selfless politicians, those who seek political office, not for political gains, but for the people. And that's when we'll begin to have, you know, a different attitude and not really have this, because at the end of the day, it just looks like, you know, you're just trying to trivialize the issue and maybe it's like a revenge, you know, just do something.  We can do better, we can do better. Let's take a break and we'll be right back. I'll just continue to see me, my Kofi, and when we return, of course, we'll look at what people have to say. Stay with us.


What's up everybody, Jason here for JasperJasperace.com. This is our last filler here, last pack filler, to give away the last 10 spots in hip-rigged multi-sport Jasper edition with this 2014 Prism Football Value Solo Pack number 17. Again guys, no veteran common ship, everybody gets around to team the NFL. We'll do that first, then at the end we'll randomize the customer names and the top 10 out of the 32 get into the break. Dice rolling, let's do the break first, 4-3-7 times, good luck, one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven. Seven times, 4-3-7, Steve Burch done it James, which is Jimmy. And then seven times here, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven times, seven, seven, game of the pack is on to the Patriots.  It's going to happen Tristan, it's going to happen man, I can't believe we're done with that already. Here we go guys, also this is probably one of my favorite years of Prism, I love the way the cards pop, the color, oh my Glen, I got to put more paper in. Nicholas, Zach Martin, who's a great lineman there for the Cowboys, probably the future Hall of Famer honestly. Taj Boyd, look at that, got a green Santana Moss, we got Taro Suggs, Kenan Allen, a little Jake Huller. Alright, so here we go guys, the switch scenes, dice roll it, and it's a one out of three for four times, top ten after four times get into the break, one, two, three, and four the final time, boom, four times, ten are in, Steve Burch you're in, Steve, Evan, Steve, Steve, Alex, James, Philippo, Steve, and Alex, congratulations, top ten are in, so let's paste you guys right here, boom, you guys are now in the break, and the break is probably coming up next, we only had two left and I'm pretty sure it's sold out, so I'll take this one off the website because we don't need this pack filler here no more, but I think the main break is coming up next, good luck guys, jazbscasebreaks.com


Efallai, dweud yw'r ysgol yn Gweithio Lleidio Gweithio yng Nghymru. Yn amlwch chi'n gweithio'r gweithio, ac ynghylch gyda'r gael ffarsgwyr yng nghymru, Romsi ac Samhamton Gwyrdyn. Felly, yma, yma, erbyn y cyflwyng i'r gweithio ymwneud yng nghymru yn cael ein gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio i'r Llywodraeth, sy'n ddiddordeb wneud hynny'n gwneud y mae'r gweithio. Felly, mae'r gweithio i'r Gweithio'r Gweithio, ynghylch o'r mawr i ddyn nhw, mawr i ddyn nhw'n ei ddayl y ddigon. Mae'r ddyn nhw'n ffortunadau rydyn ni'n dweud i ddysgu'r ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw fforddol o phryth i erbyn y Lazzleiaeth. Mae'r ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw yn ystod yn fwyaf ar gyfer y gwaith ymlaen nhw. Rydyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw yn ddysgu'r ddyn nhw, a rydyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw yn ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw. Mae'r cwestiynau ar y Comwythau Cymru yn ddod yn bwynt iawn... ..y ddwylo llwyddoedd yn arferwyr ar gyferwyr ar gyferwyr ar gyferwyr. Mae'r unrhyw ymddiad hon i ymgyrch yn 1918... ..y ddwylo llwyddoedd yn yr wyf yn 1919-1919. Yn mynd i ddim yn gallu'r wybodaeth sydd yw'r mawr yn ymgyrch... ..y'r cyflwyno ar gyferwyr ar gyferwyr ymgyrch... ..y ddwylo llwyddoedd yn ddwylo llwyddoedd... Ie i rhaid i ddweud i ddweud y ddim yn y ddweud a'r ddweud o'r ddweud, a fyddwn ni'n ddweud i ddweud a'r ddweud yn yw'n ddweud. Rwyf wedi ddweud, yn ystod, yn ddiddorol iawn, ac yn ddweud ymlaen i ddweud o'r ddweud. Yn y dyfodol, yr Unedig Gweithio'r Yndoedd Cymru cynnig i meddwl i ddweud o'r ddweud o ddweud o'r ddweud. The most recent being the Portrait Commission of the Right Honour, Margaret Beckett MP by Anthony Williams, for which he was awarded the 2012 on Dartsy Award for the most distinguished portrait of the year. I would invite all of you as you leave this evening to have a look at the portrait which hangs just outside this room. It's certainly absolutely fantastic. I can remember coming in this room to be unveiling of the portrait and I think I can honestly say that the committee were absolutely thrilled a gwahodd yr adored yn y gyfnod o'r eu hwnnw yn i gyda'r adored. Mae'r cychwyn gyda'r adored, yn ymwybodaeth, i ddim yn ddechrau Iona Mola Kemby. Iona Mola Kemby yn ymwybodaeth yng Nghymru i Llywosimiedeg Ffordd i 1987. Mae'n fynd i'r ddweud i'r cyfnod oedd yn oed. Mae'n gwybod ymwybodaeth yn ymwesol o'r cyfrifwyr. Iona'r cyfrifwyr yn ymwybodaeth yn ymwybodaeth o'r cyfrifwyr, Fy enw i'r eich pararlentrion i'r llyfr ystafellol i'r bwrdd yma mewn i'r cymryd i'r yrhysbeth. Mae'n dweud yma sy'n ddiddordeb am ddiddordeb ar gyfer y cyfrifol yn y ddechrau. Jo. Ddiddorol yma, Ieidol. Mae mynd i ddim gweithio i'r ffordd ar gael yma, ond mae'n ffordd i'r ddiddorol i'n ddechrau. Felly ydych chi'n mynd i ddiddorol i'r ddiddorol i'r ddiddorol i'r ddiddorol i'r ddiddorol i'r ddiddorol, Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'r ddau am ysgolwyd yn unrhyw mwy, sy'n ddau i'r ddweud ychydig iawn am ddweud i'w gyfrifol yn ychydig iawn am y parlymentau i'r cyfwyr i'ch parlymentau, ac yn ddweud yn ddweud. Yn y ddweud, mae'r ddau ddim yn ymdau i'ch drwy'r ddweud hynny. Ond gynnwys, rydyn ni'n gweithio'r ddau'r ddau'r ddau'r ddau deall yma yn ddweud yma'r parlymentau i'r ddau'r ddau. Felly, sydd wedi gweld yn 1987, mae'n 41 yw unrhyw yma yn 609 o bwysig. Mae'n ddefnyddiad o'r gwybod i'r gweithioedd cyd-dwyllfa iawn o'r rwyfyniadau o'r ffrindiau ac'r ffwrdd o'r llefiau cymdeithasol, o'r ffordd arwyfnodol yn ddifion. Mae'n eich gweithio'n gwybod i'r ysgrifennu am hyn o'r unrhyw unrhyw o'r ddaf. Mae'n gwybod i'r gweithio'r gweithio, ond o'r yrhyw o'r anhywun o'r gweithio'r gweithio, o'r tyd a'r Hipllwod yma yw'r casgyfriddau i ddedigolio'u ar gyllidau cyfnodol. Addysg yn ei bach o trofawr i'ch eu seiniad i'r hyfforddiant o'i chi'n bach i hyfforddiant gyda chi. Rydych chi'n meddwl sowyd oedd y gyfnodol o unrhyw mwyno. Caroline llwyno chi'n ddewch, oedd yn fwy tu. Beth sydd wedi bod yn ymwynt. O'r gwestiynau ei yn ymddangos byw yn dweithio â wath gwaith ynghylch gafryddol Diolch yn ddechrau. Mae'r ffordd yn cael ei wneud yn bwysig. Ond yw'n gweld yn ydym ni, pheth yw'r ffwyr cyffredinol yn bwysig. Gweithio'r ffwyr yn gweithio'r ffwyrau yn bwysig a'r ddechrau sydd yn bwysig yn ei wneud yn bwysig. Felly, bydd yn gwbl yn rhaid, mae'n gweithio'r ddweud o ffwyr arweinau between 1992 and 1997 due to the Labour Party's use of all women shortlist. Less well-known and remembered is the fact that the following election, the numbers fell when the party abandoned this positive action. This led to my presenting a 10-minute rule bill to put positive action on women in parliamentary selections into statute, a measure which was adopted by the Labour Government a year later. But despite all our best efforts and different forms of positive action by the parties, women make up just 22% of today's Parliament. Over the past 15 years, the average rate of increase has been around 1.3%. I don't feel capable of doing these maths, but I'll give you the answer. That means 100 years to parity, 100 more years before we have an equal number of women and men. Yet already, male MPs are complaining that there are talented young men out there who are still not getting a chance. I recently announced that I would stand down in 2015. So naturally, we had a discussion about whether the constituency wanted an all women shortlist. One woman, a good friend of mine, wondered aloud whether after having had a woman MP for 25 years, they should give a man a chance. I had to respond that before me, the constituency had elected continuously for over 100 years only men. Let me give you a few more figures to remember. In the 95 years since women were allowed to stand for Parliament, only 367 of us have been elected, and that includes the 146 sitting today.  So let me conclude by quoting Professor Joey Nowandusky, who said, The representation of women in political decision making is vital, not because it would necessarily make a difference for women, though it often does, but because justice demands it. We cannot wait another 100 years to achieve parity between women and men in this Parliament. We need to understand our immediate history and change accordingly, but we can also learn from the past and honour the women who came before us. Which brings me to tonight's lecture. I'm delighted to introduce Krista Carman, Professor of History at Lincoln University. She is a founding member of the Women's History Network and serves on the editorial board of Women's History Review. She will also be known to many of you for her part in the campaign to save the women's library. Her latest book, Women in British Politics, looks at the relationship between women and Parliament from the Court of Queen Mary in the 16th century to the election of Margaret Thatcher. And she demonstrates that women were active political agents long before the campaign for votes. She also looks at the times in history which were not heroic moments of change and progress for women, but which were nonetheless crucial in the progress towards women's political citizenship. The topic of her talk this evening, Margo Asquith, highlights what her book demonstrates, that women sought to influence Parliament even when they were not able to vote or to become women MPs. Krista, very much the invitation to be here this evening. When I was asked to speak about Margo Asquith, I did pause because I've always found it quite an enigmatic figure. I do have to say that having done the research for the paper, I find you an equally enigmatic figure. But hopefully what I can do tonight is give you a little bit of an introduction to this fascinating woman and the world in which she was moving. That Margo Asquith, knee tenant, Countess of Oxford, political hostess and diarist as her entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes her, has not been a central figure in 19th or early 20th century women's history, isn't itself indicative of the complexity of her character. On paper, she would appear to be an ideal topic for an academic history biography of the type where the focus on the individual's life is used as a cipher for the context of their broader social and cultural times. Women's history in Britain has come a long way from its early days when the subjects of its research were much more likely to come from working class or socialist circles. And there are now several serious studies contextualising the lives of middle class and indeed aristocratic women. Neither did Margo Asquith leave a woody biography of shorter resource material. She left a copious archive, including a diary that she kept from childhood that branched into two separate political and familial diaries between 1904 and 1914, numerous files of correspondence, a two-volume autobiography and other shorter autobiographical fragments. She lived during an era of popular newspaper and magazine journalism and the rise of film and featured prominently in both of these media. Her life was exciting and glamorous. Described as a celebrity by at least one magazine, she was at the centre of late Victorian and Edwardian society with a capital S. Every inch of the fantasy after a woman, she smoked and swore out of self-consciously and copiously, danced with Prince of Wales, sat on Tennyson's knee and had a poem written to her by him, prayed with General Booth in a railway carriage, posed to several prime ministers and married to one. She gave birth to five children of whom two survived and was stepmother to five more. She lived through two world wars and she was closely involved with both the arts and the fashion industry. Yet, as a biographical or an historical subject, she still remains marginal. I would suggest that part of the reason for this lay in her party political affiliations, such as they were. Although the political focus of women's history has extended over the past four decades, the history of women in the Liberal Party has yet to draw anything like the level of scholarly attention that has been given to those attached to conservative or socialist parties. Despite the fact that the Liberal Party's female group, the Women's Liberal Federation, had become the largest of all three party groups by 1912, there is still no single study of the history of this organisation. Leading Liberal women have seldom rarely been the subject of historical inquiry either singularly or collectively. And then added to this, of course, there is Margo Asford's own political positioning, which makes it rather difficult to fit her into the mould of a pre-sufferage political hostess or a Grand Don. Margo was never an activist in the Women's Liberal Federation, nor even a figurehead for it in the way that Catherine Gladstone had been. Although her stepdaughter Violet was one amongst the number of women related to pre-war male politicians who were invited to stand for Parliament in the 1920s, Margo never sought to build an independent political career, nor was she linked with the women's movement. Indeed, when Lady Constance Lytton was imprisoned for suffragette activities, Margo wrote in a civic letter to her friend Francis Balfour, Lytton's sister-in-law, demanding to know, is Connie off her head? In my talk tonight, what I want to focus on is Margo Asford's self-presentation as a particular sort of political figure, one who does not slide easily into any of our available analytical frameworks. As Asford left a formidable archive, there is need for some selection. I have focused here on her published autobiographical writings, rather than on her diaries, as these offer a more obvious way into her selective self-presentation. In some ways, Margo's autobiography adheres to the tendency identified by Susan Bell and Marilyn Yellong, women who take their gender as a given in their writing, while they reflect upon it. Her relationship with her autobiographical self is also complicated, revealed by her tendency to adopt a playwright style of direct dialogue when recounting certain key conversations, Margo dialogue, Asquith dialogue, and it goes down the page like a play. Many aspects of her life are emitted from the two volumes, which she published to great critical on financial success between 1920 and 1922, including her appearance in the notorious Billy Liable trial of 1918, which called into question her close relationship with the dancer Mary Allen. Nevertheless, the autobiography remains an important source, not only for what it reveals about the social and political world of Britain in the critical decades before the First World War, but also because it represents Margo Asquith's own take on her life and the way in which she chose to represent it. In questioning how we might assess her as a political figure, I will begin by saying something briefly about the role of the political hostess and how it had developed by the end of the 19th century, a role which many women were using as a root into politics or political power. I will then briefly sketch other late 19th century political roles available to women before considering Asquith's presentation of her own personality in more detail. When fitting life as rich as this into 45 minutes, there is, of course, a need for selectivity. So my focus is on the point in her life immediately before Asquith's premiere shoot when she's establishing herself as a social and political figure about town. In particular, I want to look at two of her identities, that of the new woman and that of the celebrity. The work of historians such as Elaine Charlis has been instructive in recovering the very public contribution to politics made by a slightly earlier generation of aristocratic women, who played an active role in the electioneering of the late 18th and early 19th century. Historian Paul Lanford has described how politics in this earlier era was not restricted to parliament or organised institutions, but it extended into a variety of cultural and social venue so that party allegiance determined attendance at race or hung meetings or at social venues such as the assembly rooms. As the location of politics broadened, women found apple scape to participate. Their most obvious and, I think, controversial role came during contested elections. This move could attract criticism when it was felt that their behaviour overstepped the balance of propriety. Georgiana, the Duchess of Davenshire, one of the most famous examples, found herself at the centre of scandal in the late 18th century when it was thought that she moved too frequently and freely amongst lower class voters in active support of the win campaign. The D-S of D grants favours to those who promised their votes to Mr Fox was how the Morning Post reported on what became known as the Kisses for Vote scandal. This is a contemporary cartoon saying the same thing. She was accused of kissing, not just kissing people, but kissing butchers, which seemed to be, it was. These scandals were not the norm, however, and many women did help with elections, wearing political colours and distributing literature throughout the century. The young margot us with herself made use of the colours in support of at least one of her father's election campaigns, as we shall see. Outside of election times, women had other political roles. The most obvious was that of the grand political hostess. Martin Pugh claims that certain qualifications were essential to this role, including beauty, intelligence, houses close to Westminster and in the country, and, of course, an appropriate husband, so it's quite a limited constituency. In a period when invitations to dinner parties or a longer Saturday to Monday, as it was then correctly called, were under women's control, the political hostess arguably wielded a significant degree of power, because she decided she was invited to these gatherings rather than her husband. Kim Reynolds has pointed out, however, that the role was tightly connected with party, meaning that there was really only one hostess at a time, as the idea was that you would be able, as the great political hostess, to bring the party together to discourage faction fighting within it, and really didn't want two or three wig hostesses or two or three Tory hostesses, because that would cause divided camps. Nevertheless, as the 19th century unfolded, the central position of women, such as Lady Waldegrave, Lady Palmerston, Lady Holland and Lady Mosworth, who were the most frequently cited, was beginning to be underpinned by numerous other political wives, whose husbands' careers may well have also owned much to their distinctive entertaining skills. Reynolds claimed that the real role of the political hostess was decreasing by the end of the 19th century, although the point at which she finally vanished is a matter of some disagreement. Lady Joan insisted after the death of Francis Waldegrave in 1895 that she was the last of the political hostesses because, said Lady Joan, after her death the political culture had altered to such an extent that the aristocratic political hostess was essentially redundant. Politics was becoming a much more socially mixed business. Margot herself felt that it was her great friend, the Duchess of Manchester, Lady Devonshire, who was the last great political lady in London society. But the periodical person was loathed to let this role go and was keen to hold on to some semblance of the hostess role in the world and helped to fuel a public fascination with the lives of political wives, as we shall see. Political wives obviously were more numerous than hostesses, but equally in demand through their potential to act as patrons and friends to aspiring politicians. Thus, by the end of the 19th century, when Margot comes to town as it were, while the focus on individual hostesses may have decreased, women's potential to exercise political influence in the social arena had certainly not. At the same time, changes in organisational structures for political parties were often offering women new opportunities for participation. Local government and municipal politics provided new roles, and new role models such as Emily Punkhurst and Melissa Encarrick-Forcett, municipal feminists who were beginning to eschew influence in favour of more direct political involvement and who were also middle class rather than aristocratic, which is another important shift. We have some examples here, the Women's Liberal Federation on the bottom left and indeed on the bottom right. The top is a very poor photograph of the Primrose League because although history books full of wonderful Primrose League photographs I actually couldn't find any that would scan and put on screen properly. Although only the Independent Labour Party permitted female membership, other parties inaugurated affiliate organisations such as these which welcome women. So the Conservative Party have Primrose League and this offered some of the more flamboyant and better known instances of female electioneering. Often these were personal rather than directly political. The most famous one involved Jenny Churchill touring the Woodstock constituency with her friend Lady Georgina Curson astri at the latest tandem and begging voters, please vote for my husband because I'll be so upset if he doesn't get in. It worked, he was returned with a rather large priority. The wise and daughters of leading Liberal politicians took a less personal approach but were equally involved. Catherine Glaston took on the presidency of the Women's Liberal Federation at the Grand Old age of 75 and although her position was mainly as a figurehead she nevertheless served as a very important symbol of the political family. Between elections both the Women's Liberal Federation and the Primrose League and the women's groups affiliated to the mixed sex independent Labour Party were providing a space for women to develop their own political practices. So by the end of the 19th century the middle class woman had a number of political roles available to her. She could influence directly through social settings and connections or participate herself in official auxiliary organisations. Young Margaret Tennant did not fit comfortably into either of these roles. She did not post political swareys or at-homes or trap the streets in such votes. The epithets that were most frequently attached to her before her marriage were those of the new woman or the celebrity. Yet in writing herself she frequently used the word political. Politics had a central part in her life to her family, her marriage and her numerous strong friendships some of which spread across party lines. In remainder of this talk I want to explore these identities in more detail and consider how they may have shaped a different sort of political role for Margo at a point when women's political identities and spaces were beginning to shift. As this is largely concerned with Margo as a public figure as I said my exploration of her character rests entirely on her own self-presentation supplemented by popular contrempery portrayals in the Victorian and Edwardian periodical press. After her presentation this is Margo asked with his new woman after her presentation at court in 1881 Margo 10th became a frequent figure in society gossip columns where she was always portrayed as a new woman. Although there has been much discussion as to whether the new woman actually existed outside of the columns of the popular press there was by the 1880s a clear consensus of what a new woman should look like and how she would think. As an article in the student magazine of Erwins College Manchester put it in 1888 the new woman smokes. She rides a bicycle not in scarves. She demands a vote. She belongs to a club. She would like a latchkey if she has not already got one. She holds drawing room meetings and crowds to public halls to discuss her place in the world. Regina Gagnia's study of 19th century autobiography has noted that the writing of middle class women frequently contains examples of their opposition to convention. Margo's autobiography certainly adheres to this pattern in Spain, I would say. It suggests that much of her claim to the identity of the new woman lay in her deliberate unconventionality rather than the more obvious trappings of popular caricatures. There are no lengthy descriptions of cycle rides in her book. As a keen horsewoman, riding, not bicycling was what she knew and cared about most as the last bits her own words. Riding takes up quite a lot of space in the text and she presents herself as being both bold and accomplished in the saddle. As a child, she rode her pony up the steps to the family home. A trick she endeavoured to repeat in the tenant's London home in Groven Square. When she took her large bay hut he was sixteen and a half hands, tattersalls up the front two steps and into the hall where he quote caught his reflection in the mirror and instantly stood erect upon his hind legs before crashing to the floor topped by his rider and a crystal chandelier. In her many depictions of hunting she shows herself as reckless with no fear of speed. On her first hunt she assured the Duke of Beaufort that she meant to ride like the devil and did so despite being thrown. As a rider she had no fear at all in defying gender conventions. She was proud of the fact that she got onto her horse without assistance to the surprise of observers one of whom explained that Margot Uswick was the very first woman I saw ever mount herself without two men and a boy hanging onto the horse's head. She rode fast and she had absolutely no fear of difficult horses who had names like Storm and Havoc that belied their temperaments. Both volumes of her autobiography contained her race in descriptions of her numerous falls and injuries as well as in her successes in the field and contemporary penport rates cited as an excellent horsewoman who rode very straight after the hounds. Yet she did not display unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of her anywhere there is tons and tons of primitive magazines like The Sportswoman and Fields and horse and hound describing her as a rider I could find a single photograph of her of the Strider horse. Yet she did not display total disregard for contemporary gender expectations of women riders. In accordance with convention her autobiography shows very clearly that she rode with a lady's saddle seated side saddle as in the picture rough on a Strider mount as some women were beginning to do at the time like on the bicycles in the bottom. Margu's attitudes towards dress when not in the saddle are best described as fashionable rather than unconventional so again very unlike the new woman. Dress interested her very much and she described her many outfits in great detail. For riding she wore the standard riding habit not a divided skirt. For dining at Glen her found me home she had two best dresses which gave her quote my first impressions of civilised life riding all the way through. Only once does she know her appearance for having caused a sensation for the wrong reasons I've got some pictures here of her in various fashionable outfits throughout her life I think that gives some idea of her interesting clothes. When she once went to a supper party hosted by Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill wearing a white muslin dress with transparent chenise sleeves a ffishu and a long skirt with a nattie blue taffia sash a dawn with a bunch of rose carnations descriptions of the outfits. What she should have worn to the occasion was a ball gown of tiara because the Prince of Wales was the guest of honour. In quoting some of the remarks she overheard do look at this tenant she is in her nightgown I suppose it's meant to be the oldy English picture Margo has a pain to exonerate herself from this faux pas explaining that she was invited at short notice had no time to change was not informed of the dress code and then apologise what loudly to the Prince of Wales who of course being a gentleman is shorter than he might have rocked very much. Margo's interesting fashion continued in later life she invited the designer Paul Poirier to give a show in the official residence during her husband's presence show an event which meant to dismissive press references to number 10 Gowing Street as well as criticism of her lack of consideration for British seamstresses. Coco Chanel was amongst the 14 invited contributors to her edited volume myself when young that she published in the 1930s but nothing Margo or others helped to say on this subject suggests that she helped the slightest interest in dress reform or intending to wear the type of outfit attributed to the new woman bloomers, uncorsative costume and other avant-garde appearances were not part of her self image. So why then does she get this epithet the new woman it can be deduced in snippets of her autobiography or argue a potentially much more shocking than riding a stride or unconventional dress may have been to her readers at the time. She makes several illusions to her habit of smoking without any acknowledgement that this may have been controversial for a woman in the 1880s or the 1890s or of her habit of entertaining mixed company in her bedroom although on this she is a little bit more defensive suggesting that she realises that it may not be acceptable behaviour either to her fantasy sector contemporaries or to her later readership. She explains then how in the people should finally seek the glen she addresses to Laura frequently received both men and women friends who wanted to sit up in their bedroom which was converted out of the night now street into a sitting room. The shutters were removed and bookshelves put up in their place Amidst walls covered in caricatures and crucifixes, Prince of Price Fights and Foxhounds and Morris Carpet in what Gyntsea wallpaper Margo and Laura would quote with coloured cushions behind our backs while the brothers and friends sat on the floor or in comfortable chairs around the room we would read by the light of a single candle tell guest stories or discuss current affairs politics, people and books. Margo claimed that she and Laura were disturbed and upset on hearing that they were described as being fussed as a result of this and she continued the midnight meetings in defiance of convention she was similarly defiant in her autobiography when she relates how having taken tea in the bedroom of Peter Flower the dashing young brother of Lord Battersea with whom she had a long standing and very passionate love of her Margo was called to account by Mrs Bow a neighbour of flower with whom he had allegedly been previously involved when Mrs Bow suggested to her going to tea with a man who was in bed is a thing no-one can do Margo furiously defended herself her discussion of the incident though interestingly then deflects any question of whether or not she was right by describing in great detail in her sort of play, script, text and ensuing quarrel with flower rather than interrogating her own behaviour or connecting it to early censures of her tendency to drunk flower convention If personal political engagement was one means of defining the new woman then Margo might be said to be lacking her autobiography offers some discussion of activities that might be considered as political I'll come back to this later the left-hand side of this later but it's not a discussion that's particularly detailed or involved in one chapter completely out of context almost she describes undertaking some voluntary work in the east end of London amongst girls like the ones in the photograph in the picture there who worked in a cardboard box factory she took them for annual treats to the country attended to lure them away from their alcoholic public house lunches by speaking to them on undisclosed subjects they ate their sandwiches her inspiration for this work was her sister Laura who died in Talbers tragically young the year before and Margo mentions that she started a crash of walking with Laura the year before but there's no other discussion of this The east end work is short lived however as she returned to the family seat in Scotland at the end of the season and then didn't return to it although she does make a point of saying that she derived as much interest and more benefit from visiting the poor than the rich than the subject of this direct employment Initially politics in the autobiography are presented as a familial thumb much more to do with her love of flirting convention than an interest in policy or economics her father Charles a wealthy industrialist was liberal MP first of Glasgow then for Peebles and Selkirk where Margo described how his defeat of the city of Tory led to quote, high jinx I pinned the liberal colours to the coat tails of several unspecting Tory landlords they walked around the town her father's position brought many leading liberals to Glasgow and Margo describes her relations and friendships with them in great detail but although she claims at one point that her stepdaughter Violet and her own daughter Elizabeth were quote, the only girls except myself who I ever mentioned were real politicians not interested in merely on the personal side the sections of her autobiography of writing dealing with politicians says much more about their characters than their politics and offers little by way of comedy on their policies or ideologies a parade of prime ministers Gladstone, Salisbury, Rosbury and Balfour feature prominently in her writing along with us with himself but it is their personalities that dominate her character sketches of Balfour she wrote what interested me most and what I like best was not his charm or his wits or his politics but his writing and his religion Salisbury did not care fanatically about cultural literature for Plato or any of the great classics what does stand out in her writing is her lack of criticism of any views that she might have thought to have been opposed to despite her earlier discourse on the benefits of political philanthropy both to the recipient and to the bestower she offered no room for comment at all on her observation that Balfour had quote, no interest in low wages drink disease, sweating and overcrowding because overcrowding because he saw nothing that needed changing which in the 1890s I think is going it Margaret's lack of partisanship in her presentation of political permanence I would argue stem from her involvement in the souls a small aristocratic group David Canadaine defines them as a clique prevalent in the 1880s and 1890s it is arguably through the souls two of whom are represented in Sergeant's portrait of the Wynddon sisters there on the top left it is arguably through the souls that she developed a particular sense of how politics might operate in her own life the souls coalesced around four aristocratic families the Balfours, the Wyndons the Liffitons and the Tenants and were around 40 members in London they originally referred to themselves as the gang but were renamed by Charles Bairiffford who remarked that as they did little other than sit around and talk about each other's souls I shall call you the souls Nancy Allenberg's very detailed analysis of the group's membership describes them as being monotonously well born although Jane Ridley's more recent account for the new dictionary for the dictionary of national biography notes that by aristocratic standards many members of the souls were actually relatively poor something which limited their ability to entertain on the scale of competing social cliques such as that led by the Prince of Wales Balfour, not a disinterested observer of course he was at the very heart of the group himself while suggested that no history of the Founders the Ecula period will be complete and the influence of the souls on society was interrogated and included rather than hosting elaborate balls and parties the souls social events revolved around the intellect literary and philosophical discussion and intellectually stimulating parli games they were great enthusiasts for the latter game a precursor of Scrabble that sparked a craze in country houses in country house parties at the end of the century although the souls ostentatiously played it in German French rather than English they also enjoyed psychological world play penning character sketches of each other against the clock inventing book titles to summarise each other's character with the group then guessing at the identity while declaring in one word the things which have given them the most pleasure in life, Margu said holding the souls numbered men and women amongst their members something which did not go in remark long enough time although compared to similar social rulings they attracted little by way of sexual scandal as Ellenberg noted although they were entirely they were not entirely liking inflatations natural children and longer term liaisons they were not unlike competing social sites overly promiscuous and much of their activity was underpinned by a deliberate assertion that men and women could share an interest in aesthetic, literary and intellectual questions although not an artistic society per se they championed certain writers and artists and cultivated a self-consciously bohemian image typified by Margu and Laura's Woodwall and Morris from Morris Prince and Chintis's combining as one commentator has put it the characteristics of the Holland House served with the Borisbury group predictably their status as a clique also attracted negative comment and Margu admitted that they were looked upon as somewhat pretentious the political dimension of the souls was subtle as far as party politics was concerned sexual politics were not ever discussed either but they were not without political significance in their gatherings whereas leading political hostesses of a slightly earlier generation had distinguished themselves through their ability to unite leading figures across party lines this mixing had become much more difficult by the end of the 19th century but the souls continued to do this refusing to take a position on the political basis of social acceptability a key feature of the group according to Margu laid in its ability to gather across a party rather than sacrifice friendship to public politics several leading politicians became members of the souls from both parties Arthur Balford, George Cousin George Wyndham, Alfred Littleton with us with on the fringe of course through his marriage to Margu Balford himself claimed that prior to the arrival of the souls in London Tories and liberals of distinction never met as they were not a society with formalised membership the point of their dissolution was to establish although most commentators concur that they had effectively seized by the start of the 20th century nevertheless their influence it might be argued continued through numerous high profile political appointments by the 1910s several cabinet ministers from both political parties sorry in both political parties were former souls and now to look briefly at Margu as a celebrity the other half of her public persona that might sit with her politics as I said her autobiographical writing presents her as an accomplished social figure at the heart of the souls although not central to the heights of fantasy at London society with its aristocratic hierarchies her passion for writing that I alluded to is actually often used as a cover in the novel on complex social failures in her first ones and seasons she confesses I didn't receive many invitations to balls but immediately covers this up by saying that's what I really enjoyed doing as writing in the row and it's through her knowledge of horses that she first came to become friends with the Prince of Wales after which she said she was invited everywhere other observers place while the different emphasis on her engagement with society Mary Elcoe who's in the middle of the portrait there one of the souls and a sympathetic reporter recalled how Laura O'Margo caused a tremendous commotion on their arrival in town they were quite unlike anything that London had ever seen before onishing the tenants sisters were wealthy but comparatively so with an industrial family fortune dating only from the late 19th century through the marriage of their elder sister Charity to Lord Ripplestirl in 1877 the sisters got further social opportunities but this success gave rise to some resemblance with contemporary pen portraits suggesting them as social climbers Laura escaped the wealth of centres through her deep religiosity and her ultimately her early death in childhood but Margo who by her own admission being outspoken a tragic criticism was a frequent figure in the foundational periodical press where she received both positive and negative attention the most infamous portrayal was Victitious in 1893 EF Benson son of a former Archbishop of Canterbury published DoDo a detail of the day a satirical novel whose central character DoDo was widely assumed to have been based on Margo Margo denied the association but did agree that the description of DoDo's sitting room matched that of her own perfectly and there was enough in it to convince contemporaries such as the Prince of Wales who allegedly very publicly greeted her as DoDo at a party Benson himself officially denied the connection and wrote to Margo to apologise to which she famously responded her Mr Benson have you written the book how clever are you but the link persisted and it is quite clear DoDo smokes and swears in equal measure doubles in charity work in the East End is a member of a fierce and social sect called the apostles of whom her fiance Jack is somewhat afraid furthermore she is a fearless rider with a vicious black mer who she rides down the road a swinging gallop tearing at the rain and tossing its head the caricature was potentially damaging when the engagement between Margo and Asperth was announced and she took us with the side and advised him if he hadn't done so already read DoDo, there's a great deal of truth in it whilst a mock confession album along the lines of those that featured in the soul's polar games and the porting to come from the couple that was published in a magazine just after the engagement showed us with claiming that DoDo was his favourite character in fiction even the sympathetic portrayal of Margo that featured in a character sketch of her husband in the review of reviews the year after their marriage admitted not all the disclaimers in the world can blind us to the fact that that in drawing his impossible and distasteful heroine Mr Vetson had as a kind of artist's model the lady who is now Mrs Usworth The social and political status of the bride respectively ensured that the announcement that Margo turned that was to marry HH Usworth then the home secretary attracted a great deal of press attention It was not the first time that the engagement to Ms Tennant had been featured in the press Indeed, she had been falsely linked in potential matrimony with other leading figures including Balfour and Rosebury but this time the stories were accurate and drew no retraction Reaction to the engagement was mixed Margo admitted that Rosebury at Randolph Churchill without impuning me in any way deplored the marriage fearing that such a union might ruin the life of a promising young politician As a society figure, she was not considered to be sufficiently serious Gossip columnist Jossle to Down the Bride with faint praise many of them using the opportunity to revisit the dodo connection The anonymous speaker writing in the Judy magazine ascribed her frequent press appearances more befitting to an actress or a neurotic lady novelist to a wicked young man a archivist archivist, sorry I'll pronounce it extraction, who wrote a dreadful book which the gossip said was all about her before declaring that in fact he knew nothing of these matters so such a standard journalist who revisits the whole thing in her save but of course I really don't know about that so I come on and comment having actually outlined the whole story The article then predicted to be praised as a rider before concluding with the hope that they'll be very happy in their married life In another piece in the liberal review noted that widespread interest in the marriage the things that were signalled out most were his subtle leap into the front rank and her position as the best known person the best known person in the cultivated society of which she is a member The wedding itself attracted similar levels of coverage According to the Guardian it was one of the most brilliant events of its kind on the scene in this generation everybody who was anybody was there The approaches to the church were filled with a compact mass of carriages whilst all around dense crowds of sightseers collected in the hope of seeing some realities who had promised to attend Margo described how his sister's old nurse was offered ten pounds for her ticket An item on the wedding published in Picture Politics included a facsimile of the marriage certificate with the comment that its witness signatories Gladstone, Rosbury, Arby Holdi and of course Aswith himself included past and future prime ministers It was a comment by the Bishop of Rochester in his natural sermon that gave one of the possible means of presenting Margo Aswith as a political asset despite her conventions sorry her controversial celebrity status acknowledging the attention that the wedding had drawn Bishop Rochester expressed the opinion that in no previous period in English history had the English people cerd so much as they do now about the home life of their public men The marriage took place at a point where the earlier figure of the political hostess was losing her position to a new agreed of political wives Often these were women inspired by new social movements such as socialism and feminism who were simultaneously seeking political careers of their own such as Margaret MacDonald or Catherine Bruce-Lasia Although independent to a degree they were frequently positioned though still as helpers and supporters to the husband sharing the political potential of social engagements rather than seeking to act as power brokers as an earlier generation had done Although the political wife was an important figure in her own right By the late 19th century the celebrity status that attached to Margo Tennant had made it difficult for contemporary commentators to now position her as a political figure with any degree of certainty Many of the periodicals aimed at a largely female readership in the late 19th century covered politics from a feminine angle In an age when women had their parliamentary vote the coverage in the popular press did not extend to questions of policy which remained the providence of specialist political magazines such as the Women's Liberation Women's Liberal Federation and Youth Political coverage of female readers concentrated on the dress, homes and activities of women attached to prominent politicians Margaret Tennant was not easily assimilated into this group In 1895 a year after her marriage to Asquith an article describing the wives of eminent politicians by Alexandra Macintosh in the Women at Home named her as the political wife whose career was currently exciting the most interest for domestic servers In a lengthy feature that described how women were taking a more active independent party in politics and singled out the work of the characters of Jersey and Lady Ralph of Churchill for the Primrose League the political aspects of Margaret's character were less clear He singled out her wit, vivacity and beauty, her freedom from conventionality and her membership for the souls but was unable to offer any commentary on her political work in a more general sense as she still had no connection to cause these old groups such as the Women's Civil Federation despite her continued self-identification as political but in the physical space of the home it should be, yeah Margot became easier to position There was increasing emphasis on the importance of the political wife by contemporary commentators who were now keen to acknowledge the part which great ladies connected with the government play behind the scenes Alongside pen portraits of the political wife independently or in the group the periodical press now began to carry detailed descriptions of the layout and decor of their homes emphasising women's taste and skill in arranging such locations The Palmarker Sect carried a series of articles by Edgar Keddle offering insight into the domestic arrangements of the Herbert Gladstons, the Harcourt and the Asquiths Whilst the interest of each piece to the contemporary readership obviously was intended to derive the importance of the man of the household it is the influence and taste of the three wives that formed the centre of the descriptions The piece on Mr and Mrs Asquith at home which appeared in July 1906 depicts them not in the chances of the ex-Jeffers official residence of 11 Downing Street but in the more lavish townhouse in 20 Cavendish Square that Margot insisted that they continued in occupying because she said it was the most suitable family home Asquith himself features in the piece but it has much more to say about Mrs Asquith as befitting such a domestically-oriented article There were some references again to her sporting achievements both as a horsewoman the second volume of her autobiography notes that her doctor advised her to resume riding later in life as a means of curing insomnia and also as a golfer a sport that she'd taken after stuffed marriage The article is lavishly illustrated with photographs of the couple and of their ruins Interestingly no photographs of them together on their own the photograph of Margot on her own and then the photograph of Margot and this is her own daughter Elizabeth it's not one of the adopted children It praises her taste in developing quote an exceedingly pritiant dainty apartment and again the political potential of the domestic space is emphasised throughout readers learn that Asquith's desk full of a mass of official looking documents also holds portraits of his wife In the dining room in the picture there which is lined with Florentine Velvet and Persian carpets the centrepiece is the mahogany table where many political friendships have been laid and cemented The article closes by noting that this bright joyous English home enlivened by children and graced by a woman who practises well and wisely the art of home keeping was an eminently suitable home for the man who was custodian of our national poets In reality other sources suggest that Asquith's family budget was far from secure Margot was a lavish spender but not least on dress and on horses and depended on her father for a significant allowance even after her marriage This idyllic magazine portrayal offered her a role that was unthreatening and in step with the domestication of politics for the time Although she later confessed to disliking 10 Downing Street finding in quotes an inconvenience house with three poor staircases ill suited to entertaining Mixing domesticity with political representation offered her a means of protecting her image against more negative breast patrols Her skill as an entertainer a reputation that she had cultivated prior to her marriage and secured after it appeared before during Asquith's premiership It is worth noting that prior to her arrival in 10 Downing Street there was actually very little for her to draw on by way of an immediate recent role model Catherine Gladstone had notoriously taken little or no interest in this side of her role leaving much of the entertaining up to her eldest daughter Mary Rosebury, Salisbury and Campbell Bannerman all had wives who were extremely ill and indeed many of them died during their premierships and are above all for never married In this context therefore it's not surprising that the historian Pat Jallan described Margot as the exception amongst prime minister wives in the late Victorian and Edwardian period who delighted into her brilliant dinner parties but nevertheless her extravagance drew criticism from political enemies but also from friends who felt not unreasonably that the couple were rather on the edge and living beyond their means So to throw out some points by way of conclusion In the second volume of her autobiography after Asquith became prime minister Margot's writings on politics became even less in perspective than they initially were She offers much detail on events as they unfold but almost nothing by way of comment On questions such as the suffrage she is virtually silent in her book A strong and outspoken new woman such as Margot Tennant might have appeared to be a natural suffragette but her personal discourse suggests the opposite The closest she comes to commenting on women's direct involvement in politics in her autobiography is in a remark made in connection with her stepdaughter Violet who is becoming an active liberal in the 1920s where Margot wrote Life in the house is neither healthy useful or appropriate for a woman and the functions of a mother and a member are not compatible This was one of the reasons why my husband and I were against giving the franchise to women Whether this was really heavenly or whether she wrote this out of loyalty to her husband is difficult to discern In private she had suffered certainly from the suffragettes of her life including attacks on their home and threats to kidnap their children Yet when she edited the later volume of myself when young some years after us with death she included Sylvia Pankhurst Edith Pickton-Tulberville and Ellen Wilkinson amongst her contributors So she had these very complex and contradictory facets that run throughout her self presentation and make it very complicated for a historian to offer an assessment make it as complicated for a historian to offer an assessment of her politics as it was for her contemporaries to locate her securely amongst the genre of political wife and hostess Well obvious conclusion would be that she ought not to be counted as a political figure other than through her marriage to a rising star of the Liberal Party who was to become Prime Minister But this is completely of odds with her own interpretation of her life As I've said she makes continued references to herself both as political and as liberal This emphasis did not diminish in her later forays into autobiography Indeed her own contribution to myself when young states plainly that in all my life all my interests have been political A political identity was clearly important to her and remains so both after her husband's withdrawal from politics and from his death How then can we summarise her politics from her own autobiographical self fashioning? Although she self identifies as a liberal party is less important to margo us with the political friendship and a shared outlook In many ways her politics were located firmly in the personal rather than in the public arena Her chapter on the souls emphasises and underlines this stressing friendship above political allegiance and taking pride in the group's ability to cement very long lasting friendships across party lines This connection between personal and public politics raises the question of whether she might rightly be considered as a proto-feminist but her lack of identification with the women's movement belies this and to label her in this way would I would say be anachronistic She remains a complex and contradictory figure of the heart of the political establishment but much more interested in its personalities and its friendship than directly in its policies I was taken to her seat I feel somewhat proud because shortly we shall invite her to take any questions that there may be from the audience It falls to me to thank both Christopher, a phenomenal lecture and Joan for her earlier introduction which I would say both provided food for some considerable thought I always describe this place as not a cross between a boys public school and a working men's club although I have to say to Joan there is a phenomenally accurate description but rather as a boys prep school so I don't even let them get beyond the age of 13 and hobbles so perhaps perhaps we have learnt a little this evening of the views that female MPs might have of this place in the 21st century but it was certainly fascinating to contrast Joan I feel somewhat negative portrayal but it is going to take us 100 years to get to parity with the depiction that we had from Krista of the role of women more than 100 years ago when of course we have a significantly further way to come although there were and indeed are some significant parallels and some things which really struck a chord with me that the depiction of the political hostess as an adjunct to her husband but somebody with whom the media had a most faithful fascination with their dress, their lifestyle the way they managed their homes certainly I have to say a fascination that seems to prevail to this day whereas a female MP you are far more likely to gain colour which is for your shoes than for anything that you have said I'm always very cautious to other worlds most tedious and boring plain ones but equally the comment that parliament is I think I'll probably misquote was not regarded as a healthy place for a woman and certainly not compatible with motherhood and that really does provoke I think in the female politicians in this place some serious soul searching at time but also I have to say a level of anger as we are determined to prove that it can be compatible with motherhood and certainly need not be unhealthy at all I really would like to be a my sincere thanks to Krista for giving up so much of my time and I think educating us all enormously about the role of Margo Asgood has a political wife and hostess but I would now like to invite to come back up here and if any of you have any questions we have a couple of roving microphones which Emma and Melanie are going to operate on on each side and Krista would you come back and I'm sure that the audience will have a number of searching questions for you now I'd like to kick off there's a lady there who's looking almost willing which it's always important to have the first one this is the question so much I just want to make a couple of points I don't know if you fully conveyed her wits and rumours I mean she was notorious for her wits and rumours on extreme rumours and I mean this may be a protocol for the stories you might have heard is her meeting and explained to Jean Harlow how to spell her name and she said the team Margo signed as in Harlow this is what my children really are but the other point I wanted to make was about the media because she actually became very unpopular particularly in the first world war where she was held up as being a germapile and there were all these rumours that circulated that she was visiting a germapile actually involved in passing secrets and it was true that she wouldn't get rid of her her nanny her daughter Elizabeth's old nanny who was German she didn't want to part with her because she'd saved her life so you've got to save her packing and such and she absolutely resisted that so there were a lot that Harlow's worth press particularly really attacked her and she was more unpopular than you've passed her to yourself I think it's hard to tell Yes, I do too much research I will definitely find I didn't think you're quite right with this in a sense I was just disappointed with the witch in the first world war stuff that you're quite right about the thing about her presentation in the press is of course it ships I would take her and go to a street stage there's a stage where she is either the society of beauty and success or the actually slightly controversial new woman which happens at the same time which is the position she's at at the time of her marriage which is a struggle to it then there's this slightly later such an 1890s or about 17 where there's a much more domesticated political wife image coming out and then before she becomes as you say, incredibly unpopular again when I sat down to start to do this there is literally so much material about where it's how you bring it together I thought on 45 minutes I'll focus on the first bit of the life up to the point at which after it becomes Prime Minister just to put some sort of sense on it really but I do think it's really interesting that your biography is almost haven't allowed the possible more government control to me now I think we have a small conflict here I think Jamie is going to take over two of the questions from me, I have to go ahead that's the wonders of from standing down I might be here with her job to do one reason why we don't hear very much about any particular political position that she might have held is that despite being outspoken and witty and so forth she she told the party line that she wouldn't go off message that actually she took very seriously her position as I ask what's why but she doesn't go off message on certain things, big style she has things to say on the Irish question that get under really why we're on show being incredibly confident that feminist historian of course what I did having written this talk was I showed it to men who are also historians one of whom is a historian of the liberal party and one of whom is just more a historian of middle class culture and sort of hegemonic ideas and class formation I've got very interesting responses that historian of the liberal party said yes great fine really captured her of class formation so well actually what she's doing is fitting in with this sort of this broader liberal identity which is actually not a conflict not in conflict with conservative identity and that's why she can have these cross party friendships because of course it's very interesting she goes on and on about her ability to have friendships across parties and how parties are much less important to her than ideas and internet she doesn't have any socialist friends or not the tune it's to despite hanging out with the the cold war box girls in the east end of London so I think actually there's a I think one of the reasons why she doesn't go on so much about her politics is because for her they're taken as a given because although she might disagree with Bolfor a little bit on some party points in general the kind of image together they're not looking to change society radically they're looking for the same sort of neoliberal consensus if you like there's a man over there who would like to ask questions it's alright I don't need a microphone I'm sure I apparently that's what they all say I thoroughly enjoy your lecture thank you very much I learned a lot about something I knew nothing about before looking at the portrait that has been displayed perhaps an unfair question of an historian that I I did history at the university and did history of art also perhaps you might feel you could venture out on a comment on in the light of what you've said about your heritage how do you think that's being reflected in the other picture that's been in front of us for the scene it's I looked at the portrait I looked at the portrait before I started to write the talk and what I feel what I feel is that that does not portray to me the woman that I read about in the autobiography it's far more austere far more severe that's exactly what I sort of got to say I know nothing about her but from the scene you've been looking at that portrait and that's what I was trying to convey in the earlier slides where you've got her in costume and all of the contemporary descriptions of that they all occasionally referred to as beautiful but generally people say actually she's not beautiful but she had an amazing presence she's very very striking and she says herself in her autobiography that she wasn't the most beautiful of the sisters and she was less beautiful after she broke up her nose a couple of times and split her lip from writing writing but she's quite upfront about this and as a beautiful figure she's very proud of her figure she's very very proud of the fact that after having given birth to five children she's still the same dress size as she was when she was eight when she came out so she's very proud of her figure, loves clothes doesn't have pretension to being a beauty but does have this presence but she's a serious figure in that picture though you wouldn't argue with her she looks though like a woman who doesn't have any fun that's how she looks she doesn't look like a woman who wrote up all the stuff she was a woman who did have fun in her very life but again it might have been for a political reason that she sat and was portrayed in this way yes I spoke very much and I remember seeing the picture of the portrait with a thousand servants by it and somebody who should remain famous said I wouldn't like this picture of him going with me but I think that the data you were talking heard about the personality they might say something different now but what I wanted to ask is there anybody that you might be able to compare with in contemporary society today that could perhaps relate to for example this is really earth gosh that's a tricky question I guess some of the first person who came into my mind when you asked that somebody who is famous for being a society person but also is very active I think the thing that struck me when I read Lord Parker is just how absolutely I know Lucy's shaking her head it's how desperately active she is to do it more than anything else and then after sport playing these literary polymer games this is really what she loves doing she loves riding for miles over Leicestershire and various parts of the country there's a wonderful bit where she describes the whole country through what it's like to ride there and you're more comfortable because there's too many gates somewhere else you get stuck in fogs this is the real obsession and then the rest of it fashion and everything she's clearly interested in this but the way she presents it it's on the side but the real is to be had in the great outdoors I think she's quite unusual in that most of all sports personalities don't do fashion most of all fashion personalities don't do sport or somebody might be able to continue maybe yes it's famous melody spike just going on from that how proactive was she in developing her brand oh that's a good one well I think that is that's perfect self management isn't it you can spend hours deconstructing that not least by the fact that of all the children many of the children have left home by this day but some of the step-children are still there but it's her natural child who she has in the portrait and this is it's a very intimate but very domestic portrait and obviously she would have decided what rules can be photographed and things and the way in which they're arranged I think she becomes quite proactive and then of course as an autobiographer desperately so because there's not just the two volumes of autobiography there's also these are thought biographs and snippets that are thought biographs and sketches and even actually the archive the archive is fascinating because the diaries are not written at the time well they are but she says well I wrote my diaries but sometimes I was too busy to write them so I took notes and then I wrote my diaries from notes and there's all sorts of things stuck in the diaries like pictures and locks of children's hair and things so actually all diaries are a form of creation but the diaries are slightly more selective forms so I think it's a great project Thank you just picking up on that and what were the autobiographies published? Were they quite popular? They were extremely popular yes they were massively widely reviewed the most famous comment from generally very favourable review reviews actually but the most comment everybody remembers is not favourable one it's the review by Dorothy Parker who said the most enduring love affair in English history is that a mock of us with a mock of us with yes This might be more a question from Melanie really but can you tell us something about can somebody tell us something about the portrait who commissioned it how it came about to be here? Actually I'm going to pass that to Emma Yes the portrait came up for auction at a sea of equestries and it had been in the family I think until about the 1920s and so it was a family portrait which we luckily acquired through auction Sorry the artist Oh the artist put it up to that level What year was it painted? Now you're testing me Sorry I promise you a promise It is 1920 and it was sold interestingly just before the outbreak of the Second World War which seems not on sale because the art hall was very depressed at that moment it was also sold without its frame when we opted it had no it didn't have its contemporary frame so it's actually been re-framed in a Delaso frame It's interesting she sold it she sold it herself and certainly financially she was going to be the best she inspired it so I think she probably sold it I don't know Any idea who bought it? No No No more details I don't see the rubber there It might have been It's still a secret So a hand over there Yes Did she publish her own way because of the financial constraints like the Countess of War There's a great suspicion that she did yes they were obviously they were out of office at that time the fortunes of the political party were declining they were kind of almost homeless for a while they sort of capped up with the cunards and various other people before they acquired a house that was somewhat smaller than the one they had previously and they needed money so she turned to writing and she wrote she did some journalism as well but the autobiography was a real hit Okay I think that's it Thank you very much, Christopher Redd for answering all those questions and for going to comments and thank you I think to very much the audience for having put them and having joined in this very insidiable evening of delight Thank you very much indeed