"Time's Up!"

Chris Hallam pays tribute to Betty Boothroyd, the first female speaker of the House of Commons

- Chris Hallam

It is a strange but lighthearted custom. In April 1992, Labour MP Betty Boothroyd rose to take up her position as speaker of the House of Commons, deliberately making a great show of resistance all the way. She was “dragged” to her new seat by her colleagues, Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody and the Conservative John Biffen. It was all play-acting, of course. As the cameras capturing this funny little ritual for the very first time revealed, Betty and the other MPs were smiling throughout the whole process.

Historically, the ancient position of speaker has sometimes been a perilous one: seven speakers were beheaded between 1394 and 1535, hence the supposed reluctance take up the role. Of course, by the late 20th century, all such danger had vanished. Betty Boothroyd, who died in February at the age of 93, clearly wanted to be speaker: she had actively sought the position, defeating Tory MP Peter Brooke by a margin of 372 votes to 238 in the first contested speaker election in more than 40 years.

She nevertheless gave a good performance both on that day and during her subsequent eight years as speaker generally. If she had a keen sense of the theatrical, that no doubt stemmed from her earlier days as a Tiller Girl. She was insistent early on that she would not be wearing the customary long fluffy wig worn by her predecessors, abolishing this practice forever. Despite this, in retirement, Betty occasionally felt moved to criticise her successors for their otherwise more casual style of dress.

Betty Boothroyd remains the first and only woman speaker of the House of Commons and the most renowned and best-loved person to have ever held that position. She was only the third Labour MP to be made speaker and the only opposition MP to become speaker during the 20th century.