Betty Boothroyd

The Right Honourable The Baroness Boothroyd OM PC
Speaker of the House of Commons
In office 27 April 1992 – 23 October 2000
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Bernard Weatherill
Succeeded by	Michael Martin
Member of Parliament for West Bromwich West
In office 28 February 1974 – 23 October 2000
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Adrian Bailey
Member of Parliament for West Bromwich
In office 24 May 1973 – 28 February 1974
Preceded by	Maurice Foley
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	(1929-10-08) 8 October 1929 Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Crossbencher 2001 – present
Other political affiliations	None 1992 – 2000 Labour 1973 – 1992

Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC (born 8 October 1929) is a British politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000, initially for the Labour Party and, from 1992 to 2000, as Speaker of the House of Commons. She was the first, and to date only, female Speaker.

Early life

Boothroyd was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, in 1929, to Archibald and Mary Boothroyd, textile workers. She was educated at council schools and went on to study at Dewsbury College of Commerce and Art. In the 1940s, she enjoyed a career as a dancer, as a member of the Tiller Girls dancing troupe.

In 1960, she travelled to the United States to see the Kennedy campaign. She subsequently began work in Washington as a legislative assistant for an American Congressman, Silvio Conte, between 1960 and 1962. When she returned to London she continued her work as secretary and political assistant to various senior Labour politicians. In 1965 she was elected to a seat on Hammersmith Borough Council, in Gibbs Green ward, where she remained until 1968.

Member of Parliament

Running for the Labour Party, she contested several seats – Leicester South East in 1957, Peterborough in 1959, Nelson and Colne in 1968, and Rossendale in 1970 – before being elected Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich in a by-election in 1973.

Boothroyd's career then flourished. In 1974 she was appointed an assistant Government Whip and she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1975-1977. In 1979 she became a member of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, until 1981, and of the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen, until 1987. She was also a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1981–1987 and the House of Commons Commission from 1983-1987.

Deputy Speaker and Speaker

She became a Deputy Speaker in 1987. In 1992 she was elected Speaker, being the first woman ever to hold the position. She was not the first woman to sit in the Speaker's Chair, however; that honour fell to Betty Harvie Anderson, a Deputy Speaker from 1970 to 1973. There was some debate as to whether or not Boothroyd should wear the traditional Speaker's wig upon her election. She chose not to but also stated that any subsequent Speakers would be free to choose to wear the wig. In 1993, the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty was carried due to the casting of her vote. However, the casting of her vote turned out to be not in fact required, as the votes of ordinary MPs had been previously miscounted. Boothroyd was keen to get young people interested in politics, and in the 1990s even made an appearance as a special guest on the BBCs Saturday morning children's programe Live & Kicking.

Life Peerage and recent activity

On 23 Oct 2000 Boothroyd accepted the post of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham, hence resigning as an MP and was succeeded by Michael Martin as Speaker.

Boothroyd was Chancellor of the Open University from 1994 until October 2006 and has donated some of her personal papers to the University's archives. She is an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford. In March 1995 she was awarded an Honorary Degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University. Boothroyd has also been given an Award of Doctor of Civil Law honoris causa by City University London (1993).

In 2001 she was created a Life Peer, taking as her title Baroness Boothroyd, of Sandwell in the County of West Midlands, and her autobiography was published in the same year. In April 2005 she was appointed the Order of Merit, an honour in the personal gift of the Queen.

Betty Boothroyd is a Vice President of the Industry and Parliament Trust and the Patron of the Jo Richardson Community School in Dagenham, East London, England, as well as being President of the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged.

Baroness Boothroyd in January 2011 said Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's plans for some members to the upper house to be directly elected could leave Britain in constitutional disarray. Clegg is working on a draft bill setting out proposed changes to the House of Lords, plans that are expected to include provisions for at least some of its members to be directly elected. Lady Boothroyd said the plans were poorly thought-out and harmful. “It is wantonly destructive. It is destruction that hasn’t been thought through properly,” she said. Lady Boothroyd said she was concerned that an elected Lords would rival the Commons, risking power-struggles between the two.

Personal life

She is unmarried and has no children. She has remained physically active, taking up paragliding while on holiday in Cyprus in her sixties. She has described the hobby as both "lovely and peaceful" and "exhilarating". She has long held an interest in lighting and became an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Light & Lighting (SLL) in 2009. She is a supporter of West Bromwich Albion Football Club.

See also

• Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 1992

References

• Betty Boothroyd: The Autobiography. Publisher: Century (4 Oct 2001). ISBN 0-7126-7948-0

External links

• Archives Hub - Papers of Betty Boothroyd (Biography)
• Brief biography by BBC News, October 2000
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Betty Boothroyd

Offices held

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Maurice Foley	Member of Parliament for West Bromwich 1973 – 1974	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for West Bromwich West 1974 – 2000	Succeeded by Adrian Bailey
Preceded by Sir Paul Dean	Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means 1987 – 1992	Succeeded by Dame Janet Fookes
Preceded by Bernard Weatherill	Speaker of the House of Commons 1992 – 2000	Succeeded by Michael Martin
Academic offices
Preceded by The Lord Briggs	Chancellor of the Open University 1994–2006	Succeeded by The Lord Puttnam