At the General Election the figures had been:
| Sir H. Fowler (L.) | 5,610 |
| Mr. L. S. Amery (C.) | 2,745 |
| Liberal majority | 2,865 |
Montrose Boroughs, polling day, May 12th.
| Mr. R. V. Harcourt (L.) | 3,083 |
| Mr. Burgess (Lab.) | 1,937 |
| Mr. A. H. B. Constable (C.) | 1,576 |
| Liberal majority | 1,146 |
At the General Election the figures had been:
| Mr. J. Morley (L.) | 4,416 |
| Col. Sprott (C.) | 1,922 |
| Liberal majority | 2,494 |
In the batch of by-elections which had occurred since Mr. Asquith had become Prime Minister, most of them as a consequence of the change in the ministerial leadership, the Government had therefore suffered a reduction of 6,663 votes or more than eighteen per cent. of the total Liberal poll recorded in the same constituencies at the General Election of 1906. Though the party leaders denied that the Suffragette campaign had affected any of the election results, there were few who had really worked in the elections who believed this and only Cabinet Ministers, newspaper editors and the Suffragettes themselves could form any impression of the large number of influential people who were writing to one or other of those three agencies to say so. At the same time a growing spirit of disaffection towards the Government was showing itself amongst Liberal women and Miss Florence Balgarnie's declaration that they had been "hewers of wood and the drawers of water for the Liberal Party too long, and that they must now look out for themselves," found a wide echo.
An ominous resolution had now been set down on the agenda for the Women's Liberal Federation Conference on behalf of the Cuckfield Association which stated that "Unless Women's Suffrage is granted before the dissolution of Parliament, the time will have arrived for a definite refusal on the part of Liberal women to work at Parliamentary elections." These things, doubtless, led Mr. Asquith to receive on May 20th, a deputation of Liberal Members of Parliament who urged him to grant the few days required for the carrying into law of Mr. Stanger's Women's Enfranchisement Bill, which earlier in the Session had already passed its second reading by so large a majority. In reply Mr. Asquith said that he himself did not wish to see women enfranchised, and that it was impossible for the Government to give any time for Mr. Stanger's Bill, but he added, "barring accidents, I regard it as a duty, indeed a binding obligation on this Government, before the present Parliament comes to an end, to bring in a really effective scheme for the reform of our electoral system." Having referred to what he considered to be the defects in the existing electoral provisions, dwelling especially on that of plural voting, he explained that, though the Government intended to introduce a Reform Bill, Woman's Suffrage was to have no place in it, but that when the Bill had been laid before the House, those Members of Parliament who believed in giving Votes to Women might move an amendment to that effect. If this were done, he did not consider it would be any of the Government's duty to oppose such an amendment, because two-thirds of the Cabinet were of the opinion that women should vote. But though Mr. Asquith began by stating that the Government would not oppose the amendment if it were approved by the House of Commons, he went on to attach certain conditions to this promise. These were, that any proposed Women's Suffrage amendment "must be on democratic lines," and "it must clearly have behind it the support—the strong and undoubted support—of the women of the country as well as of the present electorate."
Christabel Pankhurst at once exposed the unsatisfactory nature of Mr. Asquith's statement through the medium of the Press. She pointed out that he had not shown sufficient reason for his refusal to give facilities for the discussion of the Women's Enfranchisement Bill, and recalled the fact that after the second reading of the Women's Bill had been carried, a London Electoral Reform Bill had been introduced by a private Member, and that the Government had promised to carry this latter Bill into law, if it should pass the second reading. The House had, however, rejected the London Electoral Bill, and the time which the Government had designed to give that measure might therefore be handed over to the Votes for Women Bill. In regard to the details of Mr. Asquith's promise, she explained that women could not wait contentedly for the introduction of the proposed Reform Bill, because, as Mr. Asquith had himself foreshadowed, in his words "barring accidents," some unforeseen turn of events might precipitate a General Election before it had been introduced. Even if the Reform Bill were actually laid before Parliament the position of the Government with regard to Women's Enfranchisement was far from satisfactory. Apart from the fact that their refusal to make this question a part of the original Reform Bill was certainly insulting to women, the promise not to oppose an amendment moved by a private Member and carried by the House of Commons could not be relied on, because two conditions had been attached to it. The first condition was that it should be framed on "democratic lines." But Mr. Asquith had not defined the term "democratic" and there was reason to fear that the Government intended to resist the proposal to enfranchise women on the terms applying to men voters to which a majority of the House of Commons had pledged itself. Mr. Asquith was an anti-Suffragist, and, according to the vague form of his statement, it was open to him to object to any and every amendment except one that was of so broad a nature that it could scarcely pass the House of Commons and would certainly be thrown out by the House of Lords.
The second condition was that the women of the country and the present electorate should show their strong and undoubted desire for a measure of women's enfranchisement, but Mr. Asquith had neglected to indicate how this desire should be expressed. The Women's Social and Political Union contended that the women had already, by demonstrating, petitioning, and going to prison for their cause, shown a very strong and very earnest desire for the franchise, and that the electors in the by-elections had also shown their belief in the justice of Votes for Women. But Mr. Asquith had hitherto refused to admit that such a desire had been manifested, and it was possible that he would always refuse to recognise its existence. Even if, in spite of all obstacles, the Woman's Suffrage amendment were safely carried and secured a place in the Reform Bill, the Bill itself was certain to prove a highly controversial measure. It was to deal with many other electoral questions besides that of Women's Suffrage, and if, as was only too probable, it were shipwrecked upon one of these, the Woman's claim to vote would go down with the rest.