Members of the Garrick Club in London’s West End have voted to allow women to join the institution.
The all-male private members’ club, which was founded in 1831, had been under pressure to admit female members.
On Tuesday, members voted to allow women to join after reconsidering the legal wording surrounding membership.
The head of the civil service Simon Case and the chief of MI6 Richard Moore recently resigned from the club after its membership list was revealed.
The vote was passed, with nearly 60% in favour. The Garrick has been contacted for comment.
The vote confirming the resolution required a 50% majority, although previous votes on the question of female membership had required a two-thirds majority.
Analysis of the club’s rules by senior judges concluded there was nothing in the Garrick’s constitution preventing women from being allowed to join, because the 1925 Law of Property Act advises that in legal documents the word “he” should also be read to mean “she”.
Published by the Guardian newspaper, the closely guarded membership list included the King, judges, lawyers, peers, cabinet ministers and other MPs, as well as academics, actors, rock stars and senior journalists.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove were both revealed as members, as well as former cabinet ministers including Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kwasi Kwarteng and Robert Buckland.
BBC broadcasters John Simpson and Melvyn Bragg were also revealed to be members.
Image source, Getty Images
Speaking about when he was a member of the club, former culture minister Lord Vaizey told the Today programme “it really was quite backward – women couldn’t even walk up the front stairs, they couldn’t dine in the main dining room.
“All of that has changed a long time ago, thankfully.”
‘Not a secret cabal’
He added he did not “think the Garrick is a secret cabal of men that is quietly running a country” but “it’s just a convivial place where people go and have lunch and dinner, and that’s as valid for women as it is for men”.
The Guardian also reported pro-women members planned to nominate a list of seven women to join the club, including actress Juliet Stevenson.
She told Today a club that “for hundreds of years [has] been a club largely dedicated to the theatre community and then the arts community… must by definition be open to all”.
“I’m not so much interested in wining and dining, but I’m really interested in exchanges of ideas and challenging each other,” she said.
“If it’s a place where that can take place, I would be interested in it for sure.”