Betty Boothroyd,Baroness Boothroyd,was a British politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. A member of the Labour Party,she served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000. She was the first and to date only woman to serve as Speaker. Boothroyd later sat in the House of Lords as,in accordance with tradition,a crossbench peer.
Diana Margaret Maddock,Baroness Maddock,Lady Beith was a British Liberal Democrat politician. She was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch in a 1993 by-election but lost the seat at the subsequent 1997 general election to Conservative Christopher Chope. She re-entered Parliament as a life peer as Baroness Maddock,of Christchurch in the County of Dorset,in 1997 where she remained until her death.
Emma Harriet Nicholson,Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne is a British politician,who has been a life peer since 1997. She was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon in 1987,before switching to the Liberal Democrats in 1995. She was also the Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for South East England from 1999 to 2009. In 2016,she announced she was re-joining the Conservative Party "with tremendous pleasure". In 2017,Baroness Nicholson was appointed as Prime Minister's Trade Envoy for Kazakhstan.
Helene Valerie Hayman,Baroness Hayman,is a British politician who was Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. As a member of the Labour Party she was a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1979. When she became an MP at age 25,she was the youngest MP of the 1974–79 Parliament. Hayman became a life peer in 1996.
Judith Ann Wilcox,Baroness Wilcox is a businesswoman and a life peer. She was awarded her peerage in 1996 as one of the first Working Peers for her services to Consumer Services. She sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative until her retirement in 2020.
Helena Ann Kennedy,Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws,,is a Scottish barrister,broadcaster,and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College,Oxford,from 2011 to 2018.
Janet Ray Michie,Baroness Michie of Gallanach was a Scottish speech therapist and Liberal Democrat politician. She served as the Member of Parliament for Argyll and Bute for fourteen years,from 1987-2001,and then became a life peer in the House of Lords. She was the first peer to pledge the oath of allegiance in the House of Lords in Gaelic.
Catherine Dalling Taylor Stihler is a Scottish former politician who was chief executive officer (CEO) of Creative Commons from 2020 to 2023. A member of the Scottish Labour Party,she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 1999 to 2019.
Caroline Anne Cox,Baroness Cox,is a cross-bench member of the British House of Lords. She is also the founder of an organisation called Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). Cox was created a Life Peer in 1982 and was a deputy speaker of the House of Lords from 1985 to 2005,as well as being a minister in government. She was also a Baroness-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II. She was Founder Chancellor of Bournemouth University,Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University from 2006 to 2013,and is an Hon. Vice President of the Royal College of Nursing. She was a founder Trustee of MERLIN Medical Emergency Relief International.
Patricia Elizabeth Rawlings,Baroness Rawlings is a Conservative Party politician and former frontbencher in the House of Lords. She was also a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1994. She was Chairman of King's College London Council from 1998 to 2007,and was made a Fellow of King's College (FKC) in 2003. She was President of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations from 2002 to 2007,and President of the British Antique Dealers' Association 2005–2013. She is also a trustee of the Chevening Estate.
Joan Margaret Walmsley,Baroness Walmsley is a British Liberal Democrat politician. She is currently the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.
Daphne Margaret Sybil Désirée Park,Baroness Park of Monmouth,CMG,OBE,FRSA was a British intelligence officer,diplomat and public servant. During her career as a clandestine senior controller in MI6 (1943–1993) she was stationed in Austria (1946-1948),Moscow (1954–1956),the Congo (1959–1961),Zambia (1964–1967) and Hanoi (1969–1971).
Beatrice Nancy Seear,Baroness Seear was a British social scientist and politician. She was leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords from 1984 to 1988,and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 1988 to 1997. She was also appointed a Privy Councillor in 1985.
Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999,the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England,Scotland and Wales. The European Parliament constituencies used under that system were smaller than the later regional constituencies and only had one Member of the European Parliament each.
The 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours were officially announced in two supplements to The London Gazette of 1 August 1997 and marked the May 1997 resignation of the Prime Minister,John Major.
Margaret Anne Ford,Baroness Ford OBE FRSE is a Scottish business woman and non-aligned British peer. She was appointed by Tony Blair as a Labour Peer in 2006,but resigned the Labour Whip in 2009 and now sits as a Crossbencher. She is Chair of New River REIT plc and Chair of Deloitte UK Audit Governance Board.
The representation of women in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom has been an issue in the politics of the United Kingdom at numerous points in the 20th and 21st centuries. Originally debate centred on whether women should be allowed to vote and stand for election as Members of Parliament. The Parliament Act 1918 gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as a Member of Parliament. The United Kingdom has had three female Prime Ministers:Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990),Theresa May (2016–2019),and Liz Truss (2022). The publication of the book Women in the House by Elizabeth Vallance in 1979 highlighted the under-representation of women in Parliament. In more modern times concerns about the under-representation of women led the Labour Party to introduce and,decades later,abandon all-women short lists,something which was later held to breach discrimination laws.
Alison Mary Suttie,Baroness Suttie is a British Liberal Democrat politician. She was appointed a life peer in the House of Lords in September 2013. A party whip,she is a member of the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs team. She is also a trustee on the board of IPPR.
Julie Elizabeth Smith,Baroness Smith of Newnham is an academic specialising in European politics and a Liberal Democrat politician. From 2003 to 2015,she was a local councillor on Cambridge City Council. Since September 2014,she has been a life peer and a member of the House of Lords.
