Members of the Garrick Club in London’s West End voted to allow women to join the institution.
The male private members’ club, founded in 1831, was under pressure to admit female members.
Members voted on Tuesday to allow women to join after reviewing the legal language surrounding membership.
Civil Service head Simon Case and MI6 head Richard Moore recently resigned from the club after its membership list was revealed.
The vote was approved by approximately 60%. Garrick has been contacted for comment.
Voting on the resolution required a 50% majority, although previous votes on the issue of women’s membership required a two-thirds majority.
An analysis of the club’s rules by senior judges concluded that there was nothing in the Garrick Constitution to prevent women from joining it, because the Property Act 1925 stipulated that in legal documents the word “he” must also be read to mean “she”. .
Published by The Guardian newspaper, The heavily guarded list of members included the king, judges, lawyers, peers, government ministers and other representatives, as well as academics, actors, rock stars and leading journalists.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden and Settlement Secretary Michael Gove were revealed as members, as well as former government ministers including Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kwasi Kwarteng and Robert Buckland.
It was also revealed that BBC broadcasters John Simpson and Melvyn Bragg are members.
Image source, Getty Images
Speaking about his time as a member of the club, former Culture Secretary Lord Vaizey told the Today programme: “It was quite backwards – women couldn’t even walk up the front stairs, they couldn’t eat in the main dining room.
“That all changed a long time ago, thank God.”
“It’s not a secret gang.”
He added that he did not “think Garrick is a secret cabal of men quietly running the country” but that “it is just a convivial place where people go and have lunch and dinner, and that is as good for women as it is for men.” .
The Guardian also reported that pro-women members planned to nominate a list of seven women to join the club, including actress Juliet Stevenson.
She told the club today that “hundreds of years ago [has] “It was a club that was very much for the theater community and then the arts community…it should by definition be open to everyone.”
“I’m not much into wining and dining, but I’m really interested in exchanging ideas and challenging each other,” she said.
“If this is a place where that could happen, I would definitely be interested.”
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