Why NO to AV is wrong to quote Churchill

David Cameron said on Friday April 1st in Swansea

And anyone in any doubt I thought a good guide in life is well what would Winston Churchill have said?
Well we know what he said because he said this about AV...
... “it’s the most worthless votes go to the most worthless candidates.”
Thank you Winston; I couldn’t have put it better myself.

And since then I've heard this quote being repeated by various members of the NO to AV press gangers - the implication of course is that if our national hero Winston Churchill was No to AV then we must be also but Churchill also said this earlier in his long career as a politician:

"The women's suffrage movement is only the small edge of the wedge, if we allow women to vote it will mean the loss of social structure and the rise of every liberal cause under the sun.  Women are well represented by their fathers, brothers, and husbands."

As this quote clearly shows is that at the time Churchill was set against Votes for Women - which at the time was the consensus view with Suffragettes being branded as extremists - a view that seems completely alien to us now. I've no doubt the same view will be taken of the Alternative Vote in the future. Fortunately eventually after a long and bitter struggle women eventually got the vote in 1918 (or at least some of them over 30 did*) - It wasn't until 1928 that all women over 21 got the vote. (*Incidentally  it would be interesting to know if there were any calls from women at the time [in 1918] to reject votes for women because it only applied to women over 30 and we want universal suffrage)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage_in_the_United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1918

It's hard to imagine it now but Churchill was bitterly opposed to giving women the vote, (the consensus view at the time). Perhaps then the lesson to be learned is that when it comes to the Alternative Vote referendum it's important that we make our own mind up and not let historical figures do it for us - even if they are a National Hero and that at the time of any electoral reform there will be and always have been lots of dissenting voices from establishment figures.

Statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage_in_the_United_Kingdom