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The Woman's Social and Political Union first used their militant methods in 1905, during the General Election. Sir Edward Grey the Secretary of Foreign Affairs was the main speaker at a Liberal Party Meeting. Christabel and Annie Kenney attempted to disrupt the meeting in order to gain publicity for the WSPU. They had made a banner on which they painted "VOTES FOR WOMEN- (the Suffragette View, pg16-17) and when it came for the guests to ask any questions Annie raised her hand and asked, "Will the Liberal government give votes to women?- (Coxon, 2004). She was ignored, but that didn't stop her from disrupting the meeting. She was later arrested and then went to prison rather than pay a fine. Their plan had succeeded as they gained a lot of publicity for what they did. .
Woman's Social and Political Union launched their next campaign that was a campaign of heckling. These meant members called out and interrupted important politicians when they were making speeches. One of their main targets was the parliamentary candidate Winston Churchill who was Home Secretary at that time. They would interrupt him when he makes speeches and kept asking to questions in support for vote for women. (the Suffragette View, pg16).
A huge demonstration was held outside Parliament on June 30th. A hundred thousand women desperately tried to make their way through barriers of policemen into the House of Commons. This ended with twenty-nine woman being arrested. Two of them had each thrown a stone through the window of the Prime Minister's House in Downing Street. 1910 was an election year and the Suffragettes were determined to bring their cause to the forefront of the election and keep it there. The police were not expecting any big demonstration but to their surprise the women managed to charge right up to the House of the Prime Minister. Soon police reinforcements arrived and the place became a battleground. A few days later the Daily Mirror reported on how badly the women were treated, how their arms were twisted and almost broken.
