WOMEN have been allowed to break the "outrageous" men only rule at Whalley Conservative Club - providing they used the cellar door and sneaked up the back stairs.

The lapse in the rules was revealed as the battle of the sexes was taken to Westminster following the members' latest vote to continue the club's policy of keeping women out.

Joyce Holgate, a councillor representing the village on Ribble Valley Council, said women had been allowed in for Tory group meetings.

They have also been allowed to use an upstairs room as the local headquarters for election campaigns.

But they have had to bypass the main room and the bar. And if they do want a drink they have to send a man downstairs for one.

She said: "Obviously we have to abide by the wishes of the club members, but I am absolutely amazed that men in this day and age can feel like this.

"When we were fighting the local elections last year, the club was our campaign base.

"We had to almost sneak in the back and go upstairs and we couldn't even get a drink of our own.

"I am the chairman of Whalley Chamber of Trade and I am the only woman on the executive but the men there don't seem to mind. "I cannot understand the members of the Con Club standing by these archaic traditions."

Labour's MP for Rossendale and Darwen, Janet Anderson, who is the Shadow Minister for Women, today slammed the decision to keep the club strictly for men.

She said: "This is just outrageous.

"It dates back to the days when women were segregated from men and it lends itself to the perception that women are inferior to men.

"It is very sad that they have chosen to continue with this."

But not all the members of the club want to keep women out.

About a third of the 200 or so members supported the move to let the ladies in.

Eddie Cheetham, who has been a club member for 40 years, was one of them. Mr Cheetham, of Vale House Close, said: "I know of clubs which have been seriously in the red with the bank and have changed their rules to let women in.

"Within months, in some cases, the ladies have turned the whole show around and the money is rolling in.

"I have confidence that our ladies could do the same if they were given the chance but we will have to wait until the next annual meeting to have another go at getting them in!"

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "While I would have voted for the club to admit both sexes, we have to respect the wishes of the members of the club."

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