This tweet had a lively response this morning.
If Big Ben is to be renamed it should celebrate the builders of our unique democracy. Chartist Tower? Tolpuddle Tower? Suffragette Tower?
We already have the massive Victoria Tower at the Lords end of Parliament named after royalty. British Government is Monarch, Lords and Commons. We had led the world in building and reforming the democratic quality of government. The crown has been inert in the process at best - a drag anchor to progress at times.
Each new freedom has been gained by struggle. Wat Tyler, the Levellers, Rochdale Pioneers, the Chartists, Tolpu ddle martyrs and the Suffragettes. The Palace of Westminster has many hundreds of royal portraits, statues and coats of arms. The democratic struggle is virtually unrecorded.
They were some interesting replies tweeted:
Why not celebrate the first women to be UK prime minister? Mrs T tower!
I'm only down with naming it Pankhurst Tower if it's after Sylvia, not Emmeline
Pankhurst Tower has a nice ring.
there's a WatTylerLane on Blackheath, where he died
Suffrage tower would cover both Chartists and Suffragists.
Big Benn?
Levellers' Tower?
Given the impending jubilee, how about Cromwell Tower
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