Voting is being held for the general elections in Britain today, i.e. on 4th July. The people of Britain are voting to elect their 58th Prime Minister. But do you know that Britain has seen a period when the word Prime Minister was considered an insult? Not only this, during election rallies, people used to throw dead cats and dogs. Today we will tell you why people used to throw dead cats in the rallies of leaders.
uk general election
Let us tell you that the first general election in Britain was held in 1708, but there is a lot of difference between the elections of that time and now. Because there was a time in Britain when the word Prime Minister was considered an insult. Not only this, people used to throw dogs and cats on the leaders in political rallies.
According to information, before The Great Reform of 1832, only 16 percent of the country’s population had the right to vote. Because there were different rules for voting in different cities. These included many rules like having land worth 40 shillings, having your own house, having the status of “Freeman”.
Why was there outrage in Britain
In fact, in 1714, King George was chosen as the successor of Queen Anne. King George was the closest relative of the queen, but he was German. King George did not know English. During this time, Whig politician Robert Walpole took advantage of this opportunity to come to power. He was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons by 1721. Although there was no post called Prime Minister at that time. But Robert Walpole is named as the first British Prime Minister.
PM’s word is an insult
Apart from this, when the word Prime Minister was used for the first time in Britain, it was considered an abuse and an insult. Because a person has unfairly come ahead of others or is a sycophant and favorite of the royal family. Not only this, till the 18th and 19th century in the UK, it was very difficult for MPs and Prime Ministers to give speeches in elections. Because it was not easy to speak in such a crowd without a mike and to face the noise of the crowd. Many times the enthusiastic crowd used to throw things like dead cats and dogs, feces and stones on the candidates.
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