RIP Baroness Betty Boothroyd

Last week we lost an icon: and RIP Baroness Betty Boothroyd. This is a tribute to an incredible woman.

Baroness Betty Boothroyd was an incredible woman who had the respect of everyone around her. Reading the obituaries and listening to tributes from leading political figures who knew and worked with her, it as so obvious that she was held in the very highest esteem. From the entire House of Commons and House of Lords. This is quite remarkable in itself.

Betty was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. She was from a humble background; a hard working, respectable family. And left the world as a Baroness! Only reading her obituaries did I discover she had had a very distinguished career in politics – in the United States as well as UK. And she tried FIVE times to win a seat in parliament, winning a seat in West Bromwich in 1973. This was a time when there were very few women representing the citizens of UK. Winning a seat and her persistence demonstrated her determination to make a difference. She became the first Speaker of the House in the House of Commons in 1992.

I had a the privilege of meeting her at the House of Lords in 2009. I had been fascinated by Betty in the 90s, when she regularly appeared on the TV telling off noisy MPS with her combination of humour, presence and awesomeness! She was a very visible leader for women to see and respect. When I have spoken about meeting her, there are always very warm receptions – to truly excited! So it isn’t exclusively me who feels she is incredible.

I was invited to go to meet Betty at the House of Lords and I asked her lots of questions about her career; her voice and presence and her future. Here were some highlights:

• She never encountered sexism in all the years she worked
• She believed in hard work
• Betty was aware that you should relax your shoulders and neck in order to project your voice
• Also, to keep the pitch of the voice low so it was audible

There were many other points she shared; but I have created the Find your Inner Betty to which many audience members have been in touch in the last week, with happy memories of Betty and her tribute. Weren’t we all lucky to have her in our lives. SO RIP Baroness Betty Boothroyd