Heroine or Villian?

Emmeline Pankhurst was a leading light in the suffragette movement which finally gained the vote for all women a fortnight after her death in 1928. The suffragettes had controversially advocated violence and criminal damage as part of their protests. Two years later this statue was unveiled by then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, who had opposed votes for women. Almost 90 years later a proposal to move the statue to the Regent's Park by former Conservative MP Sir Neil Thorne was withdrawn after widespread anger and a public campaign against it. The statue is now Grade II* listed based on it having 'more than special interest' and the importance of its setting next to the Houses of Parliament. Let's hope it remains there, close the centre of our democracy!