which the lines ran. The DR was extended to Uxbridge in 1910, by a connection made to the MR. In 1913, the Bakerloo Tube was extended to Paddington and to Queen's Park and Watford Junction four years later. The Hampstead tube was extended a short distance at its southern end to provide an interchange with the Bakerloo and the DR at Embankment in 1914. It was extended at its northern end from Golders Green into the Middlesex countryside to reach Edgware in 1924. In 1926, the Hampstead tube was extended south to connect to the C&SLR at Kennington in conjunction with a reconstruction of the C&SLR and its 1926 extension from Clapham Common to Morden. The CLR was extended to Ealing Broadway in 1920. Permission for an extension of the line to Richmond was obtained in 1913 and again in 1920, but was not used. Later, during 1932 and 1933, the Piccadilly Tube was extended at both ends: in the north from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters, and in the west from Hammersmith to Hounslow and Uxbridge using the DR's tracks. In addition, a programme of modernising many of the Underground's busiest central London stations was started; providing them with escalators to replace lifts. New and refurbished rolling stock was gradually introduced on a number of lines with automatic sliding doors along the length of the carriages instead of manual end gates, reducing boarding times. By the middle of the 1920s, the organisation had expanded to such an extent that a large, new headquarters building designed by Charles Holden was constructed at 55 Broadway over St James's Park station. Move to public ownership Starting in the early 1920s, competition from numerous small bus companies, nicknamed "pirates" because they operated irregular routes and plundered the LGOC's passengers, eroded the profitability of the Combine's bus operations. This had a negative impact on the profitability of the whole group. Stanley lobbied the government for regulation of transport services in the London area. Starting in 1923, a series of legislative initiatives were made in this direction, with Stanley and Labour politician Herbert Morrison, London County Councillor (and later member of parliament and Minister of Transport) at the forefront of debates as to the level of regulation and public control under which transport services should be brought. Stanley aimed for regulation that would give the UERL group protection from competition and allow it to take substantive