Mark Pack

We’ve covered before on Lib Dem Voice the campaign by Lynne Featherstone and others to end the built-in sexism in the rules of Royal succession, whereby men automatically come ahead of women in the line of succession (‘Royal primogeniture’), a cause which has overwhelming public support.

One complication is that our monarch is also the monarch of other countries, which makes changes the rules a matter of both international diplomacy and domestic action. So good news today with David Cameron’s decision to write to 16 Commonwealth leaders about getting the rules changed.

As Lynne Featherstone put it previously about Royal primogeniture - the monarchy is about symbolism, so it should be about the right symobolism and not sexism:

This is a good time to do it – as ridding the system of sexism now won’t immediately alter who gets on the throne – so it isn’t about the personal merits of person A versus person B. But William has a 50% chance of having a girl child first – and we don’t want to be discussing it then!

As with gay marriage, it seems to be once again a case of where Lynne Featherstone leads David Cameron follows – which, as one is Prime Minister and leader of the largest party in the Commons, is rather a good combination when it comes to getting liberal policies enacted