Betty Boothroyd: First female Speaker of the House of Commons dies aged 93

Baroness Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker of the House of Commons, has died aged 93, Sir Lindsay Hoyle has announced.

Paying tribute to his predecessor, the current described Baroness Boothroyd as “one of a kind” and a “formidable woman.”

Baroness Boothroyd was born in 1929 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

She was introduced to politics at an early age through her mother’s membership of the women’s section of the Labour Party, and went on to become a Labour MP in 1973.

Baroness Boothroyd was Speaker from April 1992 until October 2000.

Click here to sign up for our newsletters.