British Parliament Elects 1st Woman Speaker

LONDON —  Amid cheers and applause, the British Parliament on Monday elected the first woman Speaker in its history.

Betty Boothroyd, 62, a Labor Party member of the House of Commons for 20 years and deputy Speaker for the past five, won by a comfortable 134-vote margin over Conservative Party candidate Peter Brooke, the former secretary for Northern Ireland.

It was the first contested election for the speakership since 1951. In the vote, party discipline was not imposed, freeing up any lawmakers on the other side of the aisle who favored the Labor candidate.

Boothroyd, in fact, was nominated by a senior Tory, John Biffen, who was leader of the House early in Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister.

An ebullient and popular lawmaker with a ready smile who comes from the right wing of Labor, Boothroyd is the 155th Speaker of the Commons, which has a history spanning six centuries.

The House burst into applause as Biffen and Labor member of Parliament Gwyneth Dunwoody, who had seconded the nomination, led Boothroyd to the Speaker’s chair.

Faced with a standing ovation as she took over from her retired predecessor, Bernard Weatherill, the onetime professional dancer called out: “Order! Order!” prompting laughter throughout the House.

She promised “fairness and justice” in dealing with any of the 651 lawmakers who seek to be heard during debate. “For me, the Commons has never been just a career,” the unmarried Boothroyd added. “It’s my life.”

Prime Minister John Major, who abstained in the vote, immediately congratulated Boothroyd. “Many will remark that you are the first woman to assume the awesome responsibilities of Speaker,” he told her. “But you have become Speaker-elect because this House trusts you, it believes you enjoy in abundance the qualities necessary to protect and sustain the House and to safeguard its right.”