| The Right Honourable The Baroness Boothroyd OM PC |
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|---|---|
| Speaker of the House of Commons | |
| In office 27 April 1992 – 23 October 2000 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Bernard Weatherill |
| Succeeded by | Michael Martin |
| Member of Parliament for West Bromwich West |
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| In office 28 February 1974 – 23 October 2000 |
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| Preceded by | Constituency Created |
| Succeeded by | Adrian Bailey |
| Member of Parliament for West Bromwich |
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| In office 24 May 1973 – 28 February 1974 |
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| Preceded by | Maurice Foley |
| Succeeded by | Constituency Abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 October 1929 Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Crossbencher 2001 - Present 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.
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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.[1]
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.
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.
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[2] so far none has chosen to do so. 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.[3] 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.
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.
In 2001 she was created a Life Peer, taking as her title Baroness Boothroyd, of Sandwell in the County of West Midlands,[4] 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 the 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.[5]
When Baroness Betty Boothroyd guest edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme on 30 December 2011 she incurred the wrath of animal lovers by boasting that killing moles in her garden was "wonderful" and saying the dead rodents would make good coats.[6]
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.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Maurice Foley |
Member of Parliament for West Bromwich 1973 – Feb 1974 |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for West Bromwich West Feb 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 |
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