After a light snowfall,

People sent away in 1900.

The bell of the New Year rings, the time comes to New Year's Day,

January 1, 1901.

Cecil didn't have a chance to rest, and he had to go to Whitehall for a meeting.

The carriage moved forward, slowly through the mist,

Cecil pulls the curtains of his car and breathes in the not-so-clean air of London to relieve stress.

For Cecil, the whole of December was very difficult, and the increasing number of citizens who blamed the Anglo-Boer war caused the cabinet to be greatly criticized.

Fortunately, this situation is only concentrated around London.

Other constituencies are not affected for the time being.

Next to Cecil sat a middle-aged man,

His name was Arthur James Balfour, and he was Cecil's nephew and political heir, and was described by his colleagues as a politician who was comfortable even living in Machiavelli's time.

Balfour whispered: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Royal Navy is ......"

Before he could finish speaking, Cecil interrupted rudely, "Yes! I know! But now the problem is not Erwin, but ...... Alas...... Mostly the Liberals, Bannerman's fox is just too tough to deal with. ”

Belfour was silent.

Both knew how critical the situation was.

They didn't say a word all the way to Whitehall to meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The carriage came to a slow stop.

Balfour jumped off the carriage lightly,

Cecil was a little old, and his legs and feet were not very neat, so he could only wait for his nephew to give him a hand.

Unexpectedly, after a while, Belfour got back into the carriage,

"Uncle Robert, look at this."

Cecil frowned,

After entering politics, Balfour has always been very measured, and he calls Cecil outside the position, such as "Your Excellency the Prime Minister",

He suddenly changed his name to "uncle" just now, and something must have messed him up.

Cecil reached out and closed the door,

"How?"

Balfour handed over the paper in his hand, and said in a low voice: "The handwriting of the Royal Publishing Bureau, it is a questionnaire." ”

Cecil took the questionnaire and read it carefully,

He muttered in surprise: "Female suffrage? ”

Balfour said: "Could it be that the Liberals got the Queen...... No. I just read the first line of the questionnaire, which says, 'This questionnaire is for survey and statistical purposes only, and does not have any tendencies and does not represent any opinions'. ”

Cecil snorted coldly,

"Even if that's the case, it's good for the Conservatives?"

Balfour is silent,

It's not that he can't answer this question, it's that the answer to this question is too grim -

The fact that women's suffrage and the right to stand for election were brought to the table was itself a break with tradition.

What's more, if women get votes, it's self-evident who they'll vote for.

"We acted too late," Balfour said. ”

Cecil didn't pick up the stubble,

In fact, there is no such thing as "too late" at all, but the position of the Conservative Party that makes it impossible for them to make those moves that woo women.

The ballot is such a double-edged sword, it doesn't hurt people, it hurts.

The Conservative Party has relied on a steady style to gain the trust of voters, and in order to maintain this style, it cannot come up with an overly radical strategy to make the big ship of Britain full left rudder and make a 180-degree turn.

But after the Industrial Revolution, everything changed too fast,

A steady helmsman can't keep up with the turbulent waves of the times.

Cecil looked at the questionnaire again and said, "Fortunately, there is really no tendency to these questions. Just don't know what the questionnaire thinks......"

He flipped through it, studying it carefully,

"Whose handiwork will it be......"

Cecil was almost word-for-word, and each word seemed to burst out between his teeth.

……

"So, this is Professor Lu's handwriting?"

Buckingham Palace

The Queen's Bedchamber.

The queen set her magnifying glass aside, picked up the black tea, and took a sip.

Margarita carefully observed her grandmother's expression, only to see that the queen had a calm and indifferent expression, and did not seem to have any opinion on the contents of the questionnaire.

Her Royal Highness the Princess said softly: "That's right, it is indeed Professor Lu's idea. ”

The queen chuckled,

"Clever! That's smart! It's just ......"

Margarita asked, "But what?" ”

The Queen replied: "It is not a good option to have the Royal Press print the questionnaire, and it is better to have a newspaper with a good sales like The Times, because of the large number of subjects that can be found." Of course, the choice of the Royal Press may have been motivated by some kind of compromise, and there is nothing to blame. ”

The Queen's tone was full of approval.

Margarita couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, and said, "I thought you wouldn't approve of such a thing." ”

The queen took a sip of tea and said: "The questions in this questionnaire are very neutral, can truthfully reflect the attitudes and tendencies of the people, and is a very practical tool, why do I not approve of it?" ”

Margarita couldn't help but purse her lips and chuckle,

Listening to Professor Lu's praise from her grandmother, she was very happy, and her little heart was constantly expanding, like a balloon that had been blown up.

The queen misunderstood her granddaughter's expression, and counted them down: "You, you and your mother are really carved out of the same mold, and your mind is full of these things and not." ”

Margarita didn't react,

"Huh? What? ”

The queen raised her eyebrows and waved the questionnaire in her hand,

"You're not thinking about that? About women's suffrage. ”

Margarita blushed,

"This ...... I really am...... Hmmm......"

She really couldn't talk anymore, so in order to cover up, she picked up a cup and drank tea.

Looking at her spitting appearance, as long as she is a normal person, she knows that there is a problem.

The queen looked Margarita up and down for a while, and suddenly said, "Rita, are you thinking about Professor Lu?" ”

These words are like a sudden cold arrow,

"Ahem! Ahem......"

Margarita choked on the tea she had just drunk and coughed violently.

She quickly picked up a handkerchief to wipe her mouth, and then grabbed the queen's arm as if she was cheating, and said, "Grandmother, isn't it~ I was just a little distracted just now~~~~~~"

Her Royal Highness the noble princess deliberately dragged out the tone,

When ordinary people listen to it, the bones have to be lighter.

The queen was very helpless,

"You ......"

Before he said this word, he was snatched up by Margarita: "I do care about women's suffrage. Grandmother, do you think the questionnaire would have had an impact on that? ”

was so digressed from the topic, and there was nothing the queen could do.

She nodded,

"Of course there is an impact. I'm going to ask you a question now, which of the two clothes you think I wear the most doesn't look old? ”

Margarita tilted her head in thought for a while,

"Probably the white one."

Unexpectedly, the queen actually said: "Okay, you really think I'm old?!" ”

Margarita looked confused,

"Huh?"

The queen couldn't help laughing out loud when she saw her expression,

"That's what the questionnaire does – preset. Just as I presupposed, in my question to you, I also presupposed, that is, women's suffrage is an issue that needs to be solved urgently. ”

Margarita understood,

Anyone who has done a questionnaire will subtly accept this point of view,

No matter how neutral the questions on the questionnaire were, and no matter how negative their attitude towards women's suffrage was.

But Margarita was still a little confused,

"The problem is the problem, pretend not to see it, and it doesn't exist?"

The queen nodded her granddaughter's little nose and said affectionately: "You, forget Yes! The Prime Minister? For many people, the unseen problem is not a problem. The best way to veto a proposal is not to take it out and discuss it repeatedly and try to refute it, but to put it on the shelf and leave it to dust and rats. ”

"This ......"

Margarita was speechless.

The queen glanced at the questionnaire again and said, "Professor Lu is really an amazing person. ”