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9780099427049

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The first Speaker to become a political superstar - one of the most popular women in Britain Mail on Sunday Betty Boothroyd is frank, fun and generous... an uncomplicated book by a straightforward lady William Hague, Sunday Telegraph Betty Boothroyd came to transcend politics... her autobiography is of profound human interest Times Literary Supplement

Readers hoping for the vicarious thrill of reading about the former Speaker's Tiller Girl experiences or romantic liaisons will be disappointed by the lack of detail, but the rest of the book is ample compensation. 'Madam Speaker', with her wigless informality and no-nonsense 'Time's up' catchphrase became famous throughout the world, wherever proceedings in the House of Commons were shown on television. Her slightly exotic past - in fact, the reality was somewhat less glamorous than the myths that sprang up around her - sometimes tended to obscure her real achievement in rising from a poor but happy working-class background in Dewsbury, Yorkshire to the political heights. Her no-nonsense manner pervades the book, and she comes across as a likeable and confident woman, as at ease entertaining the Queen, Prince Philip and assorted dignitaries as dealing with the people in her constituency when she was a Labour MP. Her real sense of devotion to her beloved Labour Party is much in evidence - and we are treated to a no-holds-barred account of her battle with the militant wing for the hearts and minds of the party faithful in the 1980s - but her respect for the due process of Parliament supersedes even her party allegiances, and she expresses her disappointment at New Labour's penchant for announcing initiatives at press conferences rather than in Parliament. Two of the most compelling episodes in this autobiography are the visit to Westminster of Nelson Mandela and Boothroyd's speech welcoming him (she was a veteran anti-apartheid demonstrator who had campaigned vigorously for his release from jail) and her fascinating account of the months she spent working in America for JFK's election campaign. In all, a lively and heartwarming read that will be of interest to the lay reader as well as the politically minded. (Kirkus UK)

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Betty Boothroyd was born in 1929, the daughter of a Yorkshire textile worker and weaver. In the mid-50s, after a career as a dancer with the Tiller Girls Troupe, she turned to politics. In 1973, after several unsuccessful attempts to enter parliament, she was finally selected as Labour MP for Bromwich, and served as an MEP from 1975 to 1977. In 1987 she became one of three deputy speakers in the House of Commons. But she is best known for becoming the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons, a post she held from 1992 to 2000. She was a popular choice, admired for her firmness, good-humour, fairness and ability to deal with a rowdy and mostly male House of Commons. Her straightforward, no-nonsense approach made her something of a celebrity. In 2001 she became a Life Peer and took her seat in the House of Lords as Baroness Boothroyd of Sandwell.

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