hospitals were generally verminous, drably decorated and poorly ventilated, with inadequate cooking facilities. Patients' record-keeping systems were rudimentary, with little or no communication between hospitals. She became involved in the reform, reorganisation and modernisation of many of the city's health facilities, particularly those related to mothers and children. From 1934 she was chairman of the Maternity and Child Welfare subcommittee, and in June 1936 worked with other women's groups to organise a national conference on maternity and child welfare issues. The Labour group on the council remained divided. The group's leader was Luke Hogan (1885–1954), of Irish stock and closely identified with the Catholic caucus. He enjoyed the strong support of around two-thirds of the Labour councillors; the Braddocks, and from 1932 Sydney Silverman, were part of the smaller leftist wing of the group. Clashes between the two sides were frequent, the main contention being the supposed attempts by Hogan and his followers to "catholicise" the local party. When in 1936 Hogan tried to block the renewal of a grant to a local birth control clinic, Bessie led a cross-party rebellion of councillors which ensured that the grant was maintained. She argued that most of the 87 women who had died in childbirth the previous year might have survived with access to contraception. Mostly, Bessie was uncompromising in her attitude towards the council's ruling Conservatives; on one occasion she was ejected from the council chamber by the police, after she had called the Housing Committee chairman a liar and refused the mayor's order to withdraw the remark. She justified this behaviour on the grounds that "if you didn't do something outrageous, nobody would take any notice of you". She had earlier resorted to using a two-foot megaphone in a council meeting, to demand action over housing conditions and slums. Inspired by her colleague Silverman, who in the 1935 general election became MP for Nelson and Colne, Bessie determined to seek a parliamentary career of her own. This ambition contrasted with that of Jack, who turned down the chance to be Labour's candidate in the Everton constituency to concentrate on his local government role. In 1936 Bessie was selected as Labour candidate for Liverpool Exchange. This inner-city division had long been held by the Conservatives, mainly because of a substantial "business vote" which, before the abolition of plural voting in 1948, gave owners of businesses an extra vote in the constituency