Debrett’s new guide... on how to address a lady councillor

DEBRETT’S has changed its guidance on how to address women councillors, recommending that they are no longer referred to by the prefixes ‘Mrs, Miss and Ms’.

But the Tory councillor whose ‘gender neutral’ campaign helped persuade the social etiquette bible to make the change has failed to convince her own authority.

While Debrett’s says men and women should be addressed as ‘councillor’, members of East Staffordshire Borough Council decided to allow councillors to choose what they want to be called, rather than be forced into a ‘politically correct strait jacket’.

The vote came after members heard from women who said they liked being called ‘Mrs’.

Deneice Florence-Jukes, who successfully lobbied Debrett’s, said she was delighted it had updated its guidance but felt ‘a degree of disappointment’ at the council’s decision.

She said the main opposition to change was from ‘ladies who like being called Mrs’.

‘I am sort of battling against the very people I am trying to assist really,’ she said.

‘I would say to them “get with the programme”.’