Reginald McKenna, the man who introduced the infamous “Cat and Mouse Act”, was Home Secretary from 1911 to 1915. Born into a Catholic family in London, he later converted to Protestantism. He studied at Cambridge University, in 1887 became a barrister, and in 1895 he was elected Liberal MP for North Monmouthshire. McKenna was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1908, and from there moved to take up the post of Home Secretary. The appointment pitched him into the forefront of the Liberal government’s battle with the militant suffragettes. Over the next few years he was engaged in a rancorous struggle with them for the moral high ground, a struggle which already seemed lost when he took up the post. The appointment pitched him into the forefront of the Liberal government’s battle with the militant suffragettes. Over the next few years he was engaged in a rancorous struggle with them for the moral high ground, a struggle which already seemed lost when he took up the p