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Betty Boothroyd, first female Speaker of the House, dies at 93

Madelaine Gray
Baroness Betty Boothroyd wearing a red suit, standing behind a podium with arms raised.

Madelaine Gray

Baroness Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker of the House, died on the 26th February at the age of 93.

Boothroyd acquired international fame during her term as Speaker.

In a statement announcing her death, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said that Betty Boothroyd “broke that glass ceiling with panache,” calling her a “sharp, witty and formidable woman”. She added that she had a no-nonsense style, “but any reprimands she did issue were done with good humour and charm.”

https://twitter.com/UKParliament/status/1636755536879271937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire in 1929, Boothroyd was state-educated and spent six years working as a dancer as part of the Tiller Girls troupe. After a foot injury ended her dancing career, she entered the world of adult politics, working first as a secretary to Labour MP Barbara Castle, before travelling to the US to work as a legislative assistant for an American Congressman.

Acclimatised to local politics from a young age, Boothroyd’s mother took Betty to Labour meetings in the town halls of Leeds and Huddersfield. Boothroyd joined the Labour League of Youth at 16. By the time the Attlee government fell in 1951, she was a member of its national committee.

“When Boothroyd was named Speaker in 1992, there were just 60 women in the 651-member House of Commons.”

Boothroyd contested several Commons seats from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, before being elected an MP in the 1973 by-election of West Bromwich. She immediately made waves, when her maiden speech fiercely criticised the Conservative government of the time for its failures to support the “ordinary working people” who she claimed to speak for.

When Boothroyd was named Speaker in 1992, there were just 60 women in the 651-member House of Commons. Her Speaker election was the first contested in over 40 years, and the first in over a century and a half to result in a Speaker from the opposition party – and, of course, the first ever to elect a female Speaker.

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor, pointed out that when Boothroyd was elected, there was no outfit for a female Speaker, so she had to design it herself. As the first female to hold the office, there was debate as to whether Boothroyd should wear the traditional Speaker’s Wig. She chose not to, stating that all future Speakers should be free to make their own choice too. None since have chosen to do so.

“There may well be another woman speaker, but there will never be another Betty Boothroyd.” – Harriet Harman

Boothroyd’s good humour and no-nonsense corralling of the unruly House is often credited as transforming Prime Minister’s Questions into the television spectacle that it is today. She was known for badly stifling a yawn to signal that an MP was reaching the end of their time, and calls of “Order, order!” and “Time’s Up!” became her catchphrases.

Following her resignation from the Speakership in 2001, Boothroyd took her seat as a crossbench peer and was honoured with many roles and degrees. Her personal interest lay mainly in her role as Chancellor of the Open University, due to its egalitarian mission for adult higher education.

As Harriet Harman, Labour MP for Camberwell and Peckham said, “There may well be another woman speaker, but there will never be another Betty Boothroyd.”

Feature image courtesy of ukhouseoflords via Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

LLB Law with Politics student at Royal Holloway, University of London. Editor in Chief of RHUL's The Orbital.

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