Baroness Boothroyd, first female Speaker of the House of Commons, has died aged 93
The first female Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd, has died aged 93.
Current Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said: “Not only was Betty Boothroyd an inspiring woman, but she was also an inspirational politician, and someone I was proud to call my friend.
“To be the first woman Speaker was truly ground-breaking and Betty certainly broke that glass ceiling with panache.”
“Betty was one of a kind. A sharp, witty and formidable woman – and I will miss her,” he added.
Born into a working-class family in Dewsbury in 1929, Baroness Boothroyd was introduced to politics at an early age through her mother’s membership of the women’s section of the Labour Party.
Often taken to rallies where Labour giants including Clement Attlee and Nye Bevan would address large crowds, Baroness Boothroyd would later follow in their footsteps.
But not before the talented dancer’s dreams of taking the West End by storm with dance group the Tiller Girls were cruelly put to an end by just the age of 25 due to a foot infection.
The political stage would soon follow, the journey beginning with a move to London in the early 1950s after getting a job as secretary to two Labour MPs – Barbara Castle and Geoffrey de Freitas.
Baroness Boothroyd twice unsuccessfully stood to become an MP during this decade – finishing fewer than 7,000 votes behind the Conservative candidate in her first attempt in the Leicester South East by-election in 1957.
Following the two knock-backs, Baroness Boothroyd travelled to the United States in 1960 where she worked on John F Kennedy’s campaign after he was elected as the Democratic candidate for president.
Baroness Boothroyd travelled across America with Democratic senator Estes Kefauver before moving on to work for left-wing Republican congressman Silvio Conte.
After two years across the pond, she returned to the UK where she worked as a political assistant to Labour minister Lord Harry Walston.
In 1973, Baroness Boothroyd became an MP herself at the fifth attempt, successfully securing the seat of West Bromwich for the Labour Party.
Baroness Boothroyd attempted to become an MP four times before being successful in 1973
She is believed to have said this would have been her final attempt at entering Parliament – but won the contest with a majority of more than 8,000 votes.
She became one of 27 female MPs in the House of Commons at the time.
Baroness Boothroyd went on to become an assistant government whip for the Labour Party and kept a keen eye on ensuring MPs were in the Commons to vote on key pieces of legislation.
In 1975, she was elected a member of the European Parliament and became a vocal advocate of the common market.
Baroness Boothroyd’s political influence continued to grow after she was appointed to both the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Speaker’s Panel of Chairmen in 1979.
In 1987, the Labour MP was appointed deputy Speaker of the Commons – a position she would hold until 1992 when Bernard “Jack” Weatherill announced he was stepping down as Speaker.
By this time, Baroness Boothroyd had proven herself to hold great authority and conviction and was persuaded by some Labour colleagues to run to replace him.
Her appointment was contested by Conservative MP John Brooke, but Baroness Boothroyd won a vote by 372 votes to 238.
With the result, Baroness Boothroyd became the first female Speaker of the Commons and the first opposition MP to be elected to the role, having secured overwhelming support from both sides of the House.
Baroness Boothroyd became Speaker in 1992 and stayed in the role for eight years
“Elect me for what I am, and not for what I was born,” she said in her acceptance speech.
During her first time in the chair as Speaker, she was asked by then Burnley MP Peter Pike: “What do we call you?”
“Call me Madam,” she replied – to a packed Commons chamber.
Baroness Boothroyd modernised the role of Speaker, refusing to wear the traditional wig – a decision which was approved by MPs – and closing Prime Minister’s Questions every week with her catchphrase: “Time’s up!”
She stuck to the rules and had a no-nonsense style, quickly becoming a household name as rolling television coverage of the Commons began.
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh also attended a dinner hosted by Baroness Boothroyd while she was Speaker
Baroness Boothroyd once reminded MPs that her role was “to ensure that the holders of an opinion, however unpopular, are allowed to put across their points of view”.
But she only ever ejected one MP during her time in the role – then DUP leader Ian Paisley who had accused a minister of lying and was subsequently suspended for 10 days.
She also controversially banned women from breastfeeding during select committee hearings.
Baroness Boothroyd presided over fiery debates on the European Union but described Nelson Mandela’s state visit and parliament address in 1996 as “the most memorable moment of my time as Speaker”.
Mr Mandela had taken her hand before they entered Westminster Hall together for a ceremony.
South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela got a helping hand from Baroness Boothroyd when he visited Parliament in July 1996
Baroness Boothroyd’s term of office coincided with Conservative prime minister Sir John Major’s attempts to defend his slim majority and Labour’s landslide election win in 1997.
Her 1997 re-election was unopposed.
Baroness Boothroyd stood down from her position as Speaker in 2000 after eight years in the chair presiding over MPs with a firm manner and sense of humour.
During this time, she spoke twice in the Indian Lok Sabha, once in the Russian Duma and in most European parliaments.
She also welcomed numerous political figures to Parliament, including former French president Jacques Chirac.
French President Jacques Chirac kissed Baroness Boothroyd’s hand after visiting Parliament in 1996
Ahead of delivering her farewell speech in the Commons, parliamentary staff lined up in a row to clap her out.
Her personal motto as Speaker was “I speak to serve” and she was insistent that it is the task of parliament to control the government of the day.
Baroness Boothroyd had been critical of moves towards a more presidential style, warning in her farewell speech on 26 July that prime ministers “can easily be toppled” and that parliament “is the chief forum of the nation – today, tomorrow and, I hope, for ever”.
Baroness Boothroyd’s motto was: ‘I speak to serve’
In 2001, she was created a life peer, taking as her title Baroness Boothroyd of Sandwell in the West Midlands.
She published her autobiography in the same year.
In 2005, she was given an Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II – given to those “who have provided especially eminent service in the armed forces or particularly distinguished themselves in science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture”.
Baroness Boothroyd was bestowed with the Order of Merit by The Queen in 2005
Baroness Boothroyd was not afraid to speak her mind on political matters after her retirement.
In 2018, she dramatically increased pressure on then Speaker John Bercow to honour a pledge to quit later that year.
She said he should step down in mid-parliament as a “courtesy” to MPs and not wait until the next general election.
In April 2019, Baroness Boothroyd spoke during a rally held by The People’s Vote, calling for another Brexit referendum
Baroness Boothroyd was a supporter of the UK remaining in the European Union
While in an interview in 2021, she said PMQs had “deteriorated a great deal in the last few years”, adding: “It’s not the quality that it used to be.”
Speaking as the partygate scandal unfolded, she added: “The prime minister is there to answer questions about what the government is doing, why it is not doing it.
“I don’t say prime ministers have got the answer to every question. Of course, they haven’t. But at least they’ve got to have a stab at it and make an attempt and it is not [happening] these days.”
On her retirement as Speaker, then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy stated: “As the first woman Speaker, her place in the history books is assured.”
Baroness Boothroyd remains the only female Speaker of the House of Commons in its over 700-year history
On Baroness Boothroyd’s 90th birthday, Tony Blair said he had been “somewhat in awe” of the former Speaker after she had told him off when, as a young MP, he had entered Parliament’s terrace wearing a sweatshirt and jeans.
While Sir John Major said the Dewsbury-born politician had entered “the Pantheon of National Treasures”.
Baroness Boothroyd died unmarried and with no children, having prioritised her work.
To this day, she remains the only female Speaker of the House of Commons in over 700 years.
Brazil was “a bit surprised” Britain hasn’t contributed to a new investment fund to protect tropical forests, despite having helped to design it, a senior official has told Sky News.
The Amazon nation has used its role as host of the COP30 climate talks to tout its new scheme, which it drew up with the help of countries including the UK and Indonesia.
With Britain’s budget day looming, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer decided against chipping in when he visited the Amazonian city of Belem this month.
The news came out the day before Brazil was about to launch it.
“The Brazilians were livid” about the timing, one source told Sky News.
Lush rainforest and waterways in the Brazilian Amazon
A waterfall in Kayapo territory in Brazil
Garo Batmanian, director-general of the Brazilian Forestry Service and coordinator of the new scheme, said: “We were expecting [Britain to pay in] because the UK was the very first one to support us.”
The so-called Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) was drawn up with the help of “very bright people from the UK”, according to Mr Batmanian.
“So we are a bit surprised, but we expect that once internal situations get better, hopefully they will come through,” he added.
The UK’s climate envoy, Rachel Kyte, told Sky News: “The PM agreed the decision was about not doing it now, as opposed to not ever.
“We will look at the TFFF after the budget and are carefully tracking how others are investing.”
Forest growing back from a fire (bottom left) and deforestation alongside healthy sections of Amazon rainforest
The fund has been hailed as a breakthrough – if Brazil can get if off the ground.
Paul Polman, former Unilever boss and now co-vice chair of Planetary Guardians, said it could be the “first forest-finance plan big enough to change the game”.
Why do tropical forests need help?
At their best, tropical forests like the Amazon and the Congo Basin provide food, rainfall and clean air for millions of people around the world.
They soak up carbon dioxide – the main driver of climate change – providing a cooling effect on a heating planet.
But they are being nibbled away at by extractive industries like oil, logging, soy and gold.
Parts of the Amazon rainforest already emit more carbon dioxide than they store.
Other pockets are expected to collapse in the next few decades, meaning they’d no longer be rainforests at all.
Read more from COP30:
Climate protest in Brazilian city aims to hold governments’ feet to the fire
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COP30 – why is it so controversial?
Greenpeace says deforested land could be better used, which would save the need for more land to be cleared
Cristiane Mazzetti, senior forest campaigner at Greenpeace Brazil, said: “Science is saying we need to immediately stop deforestation and start restoring what was once lost.
“And in Brazil, we already have enough open land that could be better used for agricultural expansion… There is no need [to open up] new areas.”
Can Brazil’s new investment fund save the world’s rainforests?
For decades, forests have been worth more dead than alive.
Successive attempts to save them have fallen flat because they’ve not been able to flip the economics in favour of conservation, or ensure a long-term stream of cash.
Brazil hopes the TFFF, if it launches, would make forests worth more standing than cut down, and pay out to countries and communities making that happen.
Mining is a lucrative industry in the Amazon. Pic: Reuters
“We don’t pay only for carbon, we are paying for a hectare of standing forest. The more forests you have, the more you are paid,” said Mr Batmanian.
The other “innovation” is to stop relying on aid donations, he said.
“There is a lot of demand for overseas development assistance. It’s normal to have that. We have a lot of crisis, pandemics, epidemics out there.”
Instead, the TFFF is an investment fund that would compete with other commercial propositions.
Mr Polman said: “This isn’t charity, it’s smart economic infrastructure to protect the Amazon and keep our planet safe.”
How does the TFFF raise money?
The idea is to raise a first tranche of cash from governments that can de-risk the fund for private investors.
Every $1 invested by governments could attract a further $4 of private cash.
The TFFF would then be able to take a higher amount of risk to raise above-market returns, Brazil hopes.
That means it could generate enough cash to pay competitive returns to investors and payments to the eligible countries and communities keeping their tropical trees upright.
At least 20% of the payments has been earmarked for indigenous communities, widely regarded as the best stewards of the land. Many, but not all, have welcomed the idea.
Will the TFFF work?
The proposal needs at least $10-25bn of government money to get off the ground.
So far it has raised $5.5bn from the likes of Norway, France, and Indonesia. And the World Bank has agreed to host it, signalling strong credibility.
But it’s a hard task to generate enough money to compete with lucrative industries like gold and oil, many of which governments already invest in.
Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos, director, Brazil Institute, King’s College London
Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos, director of King’s College London’s Brazil Institute, said TFFF has the potential to make it “very financially viable to have a forest as a forest”.
“But the problem is that TFFF would need to compete with these very profitable industries… because you need to capture as much money from governments, from investors.
“And so far it’s not quite balancing the competitiveness of other sectors that are potentially harmful for forests.”
Hot, humid, loud and proud: the climate protest in the city of Belem was the embodiment of the Amazonian rainforest that surrounds it.
Hawkers brought carts selling bananas, mangoes and coconuts – while demonstrators bore umbrellas, hats and fans to shelter from the scorching tropical sun.
After a week of dreary negotiations at the COP30 climate talks, the streets were alive with the drumming of maracatu music and dancing to local carimbo rhythms on Saturday.
It was a carnival atmosphere designed to elevate sober issues.
The climate protest in the city of Belem
Among those out on the streets were Kayapo people, an indigenous community living across the states of Para and Mato Grosso – the latter at the frontier of soy expansion in the Brazilian Amazon.
They are fighting local infrastructure projects like the new Ferrograo railway that will transport soy through their homeland.
The soy industry raises much-needed cash for Brazil’s economy – its second biggest export – but the kayapo say they do not get a slice of the benefit.
The climate protest
Read more:
Cop out: Is net zero dead?
COP30: Are climate summits saving the world – or just hot air?
Uti, a Kayapo community leader, said: “We do not accept the construction of the Ferrograo and some other projects.
“We Kayapo do not accept any of this being built on indigenous land.”
Many Brazilian indigenous and community groups here want legal recognition of the rights to their land – and on Friday, the Brazilian government agreed to designate two more territories to the Mundurucu people.
It’s a Brazilian lens on global issues – indigenous peoples are widely regarded as the best stewards of the land, but rarely rewarded for their efforts.
In fact, it is often a terrible opposite: grandmother Julia Chunil Catricura had been fighting to stay on Mapuche land in southern Chile, but disappeared earlier this year when she went out for a walk.
Lefimilla Catalina, also Mapuche, said she’s travelled two days to be here in Belem to raise the case of Julia, and to forge alliances with other groups.
The protest in the city of Belem
“At least [COP30] makes it visible” to the world that people are “facing conflicts” on their land, she said.
She added: “COP offers a tiny space [for indigenous people], and we want to be more involved.
“We want to have more influence, and that’s why we believe we have to take ownership of these spaces, we can’t stay out of it.”
They are joined by climate protesters from around the world in an effort to hold governments’ feet to the fire.
Louise Hutchins, convener of Make Polluters Pay Coalition International, said: “We’re here to say to governments they need to make the oil and gas companies pay up for the climate destruction – they’ve made billions in profits every day for the last 50 years.”
After three years of COPs with no protests – the UAE, Egypt, and Azerbaijan do not look kindly on people taking to the streets – this year demonstrators have defined the look, the tone and the soundtrack of the COP30 climate talks – and Saturday was no different.
Whether that will translate into anything more ambitious to come out of COP30 remains to be seen, with another week of negotiations still to go.
For now, the protests in Belem reflect the chaos, the mess and the beauty of Brazil, the COP process, and the rest of the world beyond.
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