The Rt.Hon Baroness Boothroyd OM PC
My election as Speaker of the House of Commons caused a predictable stir in 1992 for reasons I understood but did not wholly approve. I accepted my nomination as an experienced parliamentarian, not as a woman waiving the feminist flag. “Elect me for what I am, not for what I was born” I said in my last speech from the backbenches.
Many supported me on both counts but I like to think that my record counted for more than my sex. I became Speaker of the whole House with a mandate to ensure fair play for all. This might have upset some newly elected women Members, who thought I should have given them preferential treatment but they were wrong and the more thoughtful among them knew it.
I made my way to Westminster after fighting five parliamentary elections over a period of 16 years, encouraged by examples of women who had blazed the trail before me. Jennie Lee and Barbara Castle were powerful figures in the Labour Party long before I became an M.P. I was the 26th woman to hold ministerial office as a Whip in Harold Wilson’s government in 1974 and succeeded Shirley Williams on Labour’s National Executive when the party’s existence was threatened by extremists.
Becoming Deputy Speaker in 1987 largely removed me from the partisan battlefield but I remained determine to uphold our parliamentary system of democracy against all-comers, whether they be over-mighty Ministers or backbench mavericks. Women remain a minority in frontline politics but the opportunities I took are still there for those who strive for them.
The Rt.Hon Baroness Boothroyd OM PC, October 2007.
