be any doubt that Emmeline was regarded as the inspirational leader of the
WSPU and Christabel its strategist, especially in regard to short-term aims.^73
Although it is often difficult to untangle who made policy decisions at the lead-
ership level, the trust between Emmeline and Christabel, between leader and
strategist, mother and daughter, was absolute and never broken.^74 As Emmeline
often said, she and Christabel were ‘different sides of the same medal’.^75
On 4 December 1905, Balfour’s Conservative government resigned amid
excitement that the long, weary years of reaction were ending and a new dawn
of reform beginning. A general election was called for January 1906 and, in the
meantime, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, leader of the Liberal Party in
opposition, was asked to form an interim government. WSPU members
appeared in town after town at meetings addressed by Liberal Cabinet
Ministers, heckling and displaying banners on which were printed ‘Votes for
women’. Keir Hardie was standing in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, and when
Frank Field, who was running the campaign, feared that the seat was in danger,
telegrams were sent to those who might help. Emmeline responded immedi-
ately; not only was Hardie a personal friend, he was also the only potential MP
upon whom she could rely to introduce a women suffrage measure in parlia-
ment. Soon after her arrival in South Wales, Emmeline decided that Annie,
with her working-class background, would be a useful worker at pit-brow and
trade union gatherings; therefore, as agreed beforehand, she sent a telegram to
Manchester, ‘Send Annie at once.’^76 Emmeline had a busy and tiring schedule.
On 2 November, she spoke to Swansea Socialist Society and the following day
to Cwmavon ILP, highlighting the fact that the ILP was the only political party
championing women’s rights. Women and socialism was the theme of her talk
to a large gathering at Bethel Chapel on the 4th while on Sunday, the 5th, she
spoke to children at the opening of the Socialist Sunday School in Cardiff and
then, in the evening, took the subject of ‘Why two women went to prison for
the vote’ as the theme for her address to Cardiff ILP.^77 Hardie, for his part,
supported Emmeline later in the year when, at a large ILP gathering at the Free
Trade Hall, Manchester, she moved a resolution that the meeting should re-
iterate its belief that it was only by the formation of ‘a strong and independent
Labour group in the House of Commons’ that social legislation could be
obtained, and pledge itself ‘to do all in its power to secure the return of the
Socialist and Labour candidates now standing for election’.^78 The high visibility
of the leader of the WSPU during the socialist campaign prompted Mary
Gawthorpe from Bramley, Leeds, an ILP member who was sympathetic towards
the WSPU, although not yet a member, to ask why women such as Katherine
Glasier, Isabella Ford and Emmeline Pankhurst, amongst others, should not be
considered as parliamentary candidates.^79 The ILP did not sponsor the issue.
As the general election results came rolling in during late January 1906, the
Liberal Party was swept to power with a majority of nearly 100 in the House of
Commons; twenty-nine Labour candidates were also returned, including
Hardie.^80 Christabel suggested to her mother that their policy of wresting a
FOUNDATION AND EARLY YEARS OF THE WSPU