I was sad to read of the death, at 93, of The Rt Hon Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM (sometime Speaker of the House of Commons).
Lady Boothroyd was a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000, as Deputy Speaker since 1987 and Speaker (the first and only lady to hold the office) from 1992.
Before election to the Office of Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Lady Boothroyd represented her constituency from the Labour benches.
Subsequently, Lady Boothroyd sat as a Crossbench peer in the House of Lords from 2001 until her death in late February 2023.
Within politics Lady Boothroyd and I didn’t share many opinions, though our stance on the House of Lords in 2011 was admirable when, in relation to plans for some members to the upper house to be directly elected, could leave Britain in constitutional disarray stating: “It is wantonly destructive. It is destruction that hasn’t been thought through properly.” Boothroyd said she was concerned that an elected Lords would rival the Commons, risking power struggles between the two.
