Betty Boothroyd: Affable former dancer who became first female Commons speaker

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : Lady Boothroyd was an outspoken critic of Brexit, campaigning to remain in the European Union and after the referendum urging peers to use the "entire arsenal of our powers" over the legislation to "limit the damage" to Parliament and the national interest.
50% : As a member of the party's ruling national executive committee in this period, she was a staunch defender of Labour's traditional values and made no secret of her hostility towards those hard-liners who constantly peddled the "red blood of socialism" theme.
48% : And shortly before she retired as Speaker - in October 2000 - she confessed that "the red blood of socialism" still flowed through her veins.
21% : Once, in a criticism of the then Education Secretary, John Patten, she said she "deprecated most strongly" the leaking of education spending proposals in the Budget some hours before the Chancellor had risen to his feet.

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