Cat and Mouse Act

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Cat and Mouse Act, 1913. Exasperated by the tactics of militant suffragettes in going on hunger strike, Asquith's government passed the Prisoners' Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health Act, known commonly as the Cat and Mouse Act (3 Geo. V c. 4). Prisoners could be released and subsequently rearrested. McKenna, the home secretary, argued that the suffragettes, by arson and destruction, had ‘declared war on society’ and that the measure would reduce the disgusting practice of forcible feeding. Keir Hardie opposed the bill as futile and unfair and Lord Robert Cecil suggested deportation instead.

J. A. Cannon

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