Autobiography

Product Description

The enormous respect & affection of the British public for Betty Boothroyd has its roots in a strong belief in what she stands for: fair play an unshakeable sense of honour & a passionate belief in the sovereignty of Parliament. Her convictions she has said are set in Yorkshire granite. Born into a working class family in Dewsbury in 1929 there was little money but Betty grew up in a home that radiated love & warmth. Betty popular & a talented dancer who went on eventually to become one of the celebrated Tiller Girls
- the full story of which she tells here for the first time. But by the age of 25 Bettys dreams of taking the West End by storm had crashed
- & her fathers ambition of seeing her settled with a nice safe job had been abandoned. Undaunted she won a national speaking award stood for election to the local council & became a full-time worker for the Labour Party. Nothing would ever part Betty Boothroyd from politics again. In 1953 Betty began work at the House of Commons for Barbara Castle & Geoffrey de Freitas. She speaks candidly about the devastation of losing two by-elections & the time she spent in America campaigning for JFK. Back in Britain Betty landed a top job with millionaire Labour Minister Lord Harry Walston & the Yorkshire girl became part of the inner circle of the socialist elite including Hugh Gaitskell & Roy Jenkins. She describes the elation she felt on becoming an MP at last in 1973 the huge debt she owes her mother for her support & the full story behind her role in the struggle to save the Labour Party from the hard left. Betty Boothroyds long political career reached its apogee in 1992 when she was appointed the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons with overwhelming support from both sides of the House. Her term of office coincided with John Majors attempts to defend his slim majority. Detailing many of the true stories behind the headlines she writes of the sleaze scandals that beset the Major government her feelings when Labour won their landslide election in 1997 & her strongly held views on the role of Parliament. Finally she tells why she decided to retire her plans for the future &
- in retrospect
- what she feels about her decision to put public service above marriage.