Betty Boothroyd

Early life

Boothroyd was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, in 1929, as the only child of Ben Archibald Boothroyd (1886–1948) and his second wife Mary (née Butterfield, 1901–1982), both textile workers. She was educated at council schools and went on to study at Dewsbury College of Commerce and Art (now Kirklees College). From 1946 to 1952, she worked as a dancer, as a member of the Tiller Girls dancing troupe, briefly appearing at the London Palladium. A foot infection brought an end to her dancing career and she entered politics, something then unusual, as the political world was heavily male-dominated and mostly aristocratic.

During the mid-to-late 1950s, Boothroyd worked as secretary to Labour MPs Barbara Castle and Geoffrey de Freitas. In 1960, she travelled to the United States to see the Kennedy campaign. She subsequently worked in Washington, DC as a legislative assistant to American Congressman Silvio Conte, between 1960 and 1962. When she returned to London, she resumed her work as a secretary and political assistant to various senior Labour politicians including Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Harry Walston. 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, Boothroyd 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. She represented the constituency for 27 years.

In 1974, Boothroyd was appointed an assistant Government Whip. In 1975, she became a Government-appointed member of the then European Common Assembly (ECSC) until she was discharged in 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 1 January 2000. She was a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1981 to 1987, and the House of Commons Commission from 1983 to 1987.

Deputy Speaker and Speaker

Following the 1987 general election Boothroyd became a Deputy Speaker to the Speaker Bernard Weatherill. She was the second female Deputy Speaker in British history after Betty Harvie Anderson. In 1992 she was elected Speaker, becoming the first woman to hold the position. There was debate about whether Boothroyd should wear the traditional Speaker's Wig. She chose not to but stated that any subsequent Speakers would be free to choose to wear the wig or not; none have since done so. In answer to the debate as to how she should be addressed as Speaker, Boothroyd said: "Call me Madam".

In 1993, the Government won a vote on the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty due to her casting vote (exercised in accordance with Speaker Denison's rule). It was subsequently discovered that her casting vote had not been required, as the votes had been miscounted, and the Government had won by one vote. She was keen to get young people interested in politics, and in the 1990s appeared as a special guest on the BBC's Saturday morning children's programme Live & Kicking. Her signature catchphrase in closing Prime Minister's Questions each week was "Time's up!"

On 12 July 2000, following Prime Minister's Questions, Boothroyd announced to the House of Commons she would resign as Speaker after the summer recess. Tony Blair, then prime minister, paid tribute to her as "something of a national institution". Blair's predecessor, John Major, described her as an "outstanding Speaker". She stepped down as Speaker and resigned as an MP on 23 October 2000.

Life peerage and later activity

Boothroyd was awarded an honorary Doctor of Civil Law (Hon DCL) degree by City University London in 1993. She was chancellor of the Open University from 1994 until October 2006 and donated some of her personal papers to the University's archives. In March 1995, she was awarded an honorary degree from The Open University as Doctor of the University (DUniv). In 1999 she was made an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Two portraits of Boothroyd have been part of the parliamentary art collection since 1994 and 1999, respectively.

On 15 January 2001, she was created a life peer, taking as her title Baroness Boothroyd, of Sandwell in the County of West Midlands. Her autobiography was published in the same year. In April 2005, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Merit (OM), an honour in the personal gift of the Queen.

Boothroyd was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Light and Lighting (Hon. FSLL) in 2009, and she was an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford, and of St Edmund's College, Cambridge. She was Patron of the Jo Richardson Community School in Dagenham, East London, and President of NBFA Assisting the Elderly. She was, for a period, Vice President of the Industry and Parliament Trust.

In January 2011, Boothroyd posited that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's plans for some members of the upper house to be directly elected could leave Britain in constitutional disarray: "It is wantonly destructive. It is destruction that hasn't been thought through properly." She was concerned that an elected Lords would rival the Commons, risking power-struggles between the two.

Personal life and death

Boothroyd neither married nor had children. She took up paragliding while on holiday in Cyprus in her 60s. She described the hobby as both "lovely and peaceful" and "exhilarating". In April 1995, whilst on holiday in Morocco, Boothroyd became trapped in the Atlas Mountains in the country's biggest storm in 20 years. Her vehicle was immobilised by a landslide; she and a group of hikers walked through mud and rubble for nine hours before they were rescued. She is the sitter in eleven portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.

Boothroyd died at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge on 26 February 2023, at the age of 93. Her death was announced the following day by Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House. Her funeral was held on 29 March at St George's Church, Thriplow, Cambridgeshire; she had lived in the village in her later years. Hoyle; the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak; and Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer were among those in attendance, and her close friend, actress Dame Patricia Routledge, sang.

Arms

Honorary degrees

Boothroyd received at least eight honorary degrees in recognition of her political career, including:

• 6 December 1993: Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) from City, University of London
• 1994: Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from the University of Cambridge
• 18 March 1995: Doctor of the University (D.Univ.) from the Open University
• 1995: Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) from the University of Oxford
• 26 June 2003: Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the University of St Andrews

Boothroyd was additionally made an Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1994.

Publications

References

References

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