Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British politician Betty Boothroyd.
Last updated on December 25, 2024.
Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. From 1992 to 2000, she served as Speaker of the House of Commons. She is the only woman to have served as Speaker, and one of two living former Speakers of the British House of Commons. She sits, by tradition, as a Crossbench peer in the House of Lords.
People talk often of Brexit as the biggest challenge since the Second World War. It is certainly proving to be a lot more difficult and complicated than was promised by those who won the referendum campaign in 2016.
The group For Our Future's Sake will tour key marginal constituencies to ensure first that young people register to vote then, second, that they use that vote tactically to keep their hope of a final Brexit referendum alive.
I say to myself: 'Come on, Betty, you can't have everything in life. You've been very lucky.'
I came out of the womb into the Labour movement.
Being speaker has afforded me a unique opportunity to serve parliament, for which I am immensely grateful.
We don't duck democratic choices out of fear of fascists.
You've got to ensure that the holders of an opinion, however unpopular, are allowed to put across their points of view.
We fought big time fascists when I was knee high to a grasshopper up in Yorkshire, when I grew up I fought fascists in the West Midlands in the form of the National Front.
Whatever your age, think about the young generation. And try to give them back the future being taken from them.
Already, even before we have left the EU, Brexit is damaging our country, our economy, our society and our standing in the world - damage that will be worsened by the kind of ruinous no deal being pledged by some who aspire to become prime minister.
My dreams of taking the West End by storm as a dancer flickered but then faded; my father's ambition to see me in a steady office job was tried and abandoned. But I had won a national speaking award, had stood for election to the local council, had begun to travel and took a job working for the Labour Party.
Europe needs us just as much as we need Europe and it's time to stop fiddling for a solution, it's time to implement the solution.
It's like miners' coal dust underneath your fingernails. Very difficult to scrub out. I'm a social democrat to my fingertips.
I'm a patriot, but I'm also a European. I think the two go together.
If Labour ends up on the scrapheap of history, it will do so because of its own foolishness and self-inflicted wounds. What party in its right mind would allow a combination of far-left enemies, militant trade unions and first-time supporters to decide its fate?
Do not let anyone get away with the argument that tearing our country out of one of the most successful partnerships in our history is somehow a great act of patriotism. It is not.
There are very good people in the Labour Party who I would like to see in leadership.
As a member of the House of Lords, I don't have a vote. If I did, I would be motivated as much by what I don't want as what I do. I do want a Final Say referendum. So I do not want a Johnson majority.
I travelled to Germany to witness for myself what nationalism, populism and the breakdown of peace between the great European nations had done. Amidst the rubble I made great friends who have remained friends for the rest of our lives.
The high reputation of Westminster abroad is not entirely reflected at home.
I think it would have been nice to have a family; it would be nice to have grandchildren.
The function of parliament is to hold the executive to account. We should never overlook the primacy of parliament.
Good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language.
My desire to get here [Parliament] was like miners'coal dust, it was under my fingers and I couldn't scrub it out.