Back in the relatively unenlightened time of 1970, women Members of Parliament were few and far between. In Wales, there were none at all, while Scotland merely supplied a couple of ladies to Westminster, namely Betty Anderson (Renfrewshire East) and Judith Hart (Lanark). Clearly, it was felt that a woman's role at political meetings was to make the tea. However, before the end of the decade, a lady from the Conservative Party would become Prime Minister to wield power alongside a female monarch. Through time, more women picked up the gauntlet, but it is worth remembering that out of a total of 107 MPs from Scotland and Wales elected in 1970, a figure of two ladies was decidedly disproportionate, not to mention scandalous.
Speaking of scandalous, eleven of Glasgow's sixteen constituencies had a population of less than fifty thousand, and in some notorious instances, a lot less than fifty thousand. The subsequent boundary review did at least reduce Glasgow's constituencies to a slightly more realistic thirteen.
It seemed rather unfair that the city's declining inner city should be allocated so many seats. What the people really needed was good housing, not more Members of Parliament!
Remarkably, the next three leaders of the Labour Party were all elected to south Wales constituencies in this general election, namely James Callaghan (leader from 1976 to 1980), Michael Foot (leader from 1980 to 1983), and Neil Kinnock (leader from 1983 to 1992). Not one of these three Labour leaders managed to win a general election whilst party leader. Their nemesis was a certain lady called Margaret Thatcher.
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