Betty Boothroyd: The Autobiography Book

Betty Boothroyd: The Autobiography has Baroness Boothroyd of Sandwell, with her characteristic endearing zeal, recounting her trail from working-class Dewsbury to Westminster. The daughter of a weftman, she passes from rags to political riches with the Labour Party, to which she claims an umbilical loyalty. After a now-notorious spell with the Tiller Girls, she started working full-time for the Labour Party, and eventually, after four attempts at securing a seat, she finally won West Bromwich in 1973--the constituency she was to represent for 27 years. Pro-Europe, pro-choice, anti-capital punishment, she was made a junior Whip in 1974 and Deputy Speaker in 1987 before finally succeeding Jack Weatherill to become the 155th--and first female--Speaker of the House of Commons in 1992. By the time of her retirement from the Chair in July 2000, her "wigless informality" had seen her become one of the most recognisable and popular faces, not just in the House or West Bromwich, but throughout the country.The woman Private Eye cruelly and unfairly accused of having "all the charm of carbon monoxide gas in an airtight room" airs her story with unstuffy grace and emphatic integrity. Much has been made of the large sum the publishers paid for her story, but Boothroyd chooses discretion over revelation in describing her path from model to Madame Speaker: while she discusses her brief experience training with the Tiller Girls, she includes no photographs from the period, and declines to elaborate further on the three proposals of marriage she claims to have received. Nevertheless, she assesses her political career and tenure on the Chair with splendid candour, from the fight to rid the Party of Militant, ding-dongs with party Whips, the "cash for questions" controversy, Nelson Mandela's first state visit to London, Gerry Adams' and Martin McGuinness' refusal to take the Parliamentary oath, to the fuss over her banning women MPs from breastfeeding during committee. Never constrained by doctrine but always fiercely loyal to her principles, her motto as Speaker, "I Speak to Serve", fittingly sums up the distinguished, quietly extraordinary political career of this much-loved Yorkshire terrier. --David VincentRead More