THE HONOUR OF BEING M.P.
Reading edition
It is a great honour still, I am sure, to be a member of the British House of Commons. Lord Rosebery, when he was chairman of the London County Council, in a speech that he made—and I dare say many of you have been interested in some of Lord Rosebery's speeches because he has a fund of humour, and very often one is not quite certain whether he is in earnest or in jest—once said that the position of a town councillor is much more important than that of a member of Parliament. It is quite possible that an individual member of a County Council or a Town Council may be more important as an individual than a member of the House of Commons, but his vote can only mainly affect the locality, whilst the action of a member of the House of Commons may not only affect the whole of Great Britain, but the whole of the British Empire. So I venture to think the position of a Member of Parliament is a little more important than that of a member of a Town Council or a County Council.
Monmouthshire County Council, February 2nd, 1910.