This biography traces Betty Boothroyd's humble beginnings as the only child of an impoverished textile working couple in the Pennine town of Dewsbury, where she formed a desire "to change society". It also tells the inside story of winning the Speakership.
Paul Routledge is political correspondent for the Independent on Sunday and has covered the events in Northern Ireland since the 1960s for The Times, the Observer and, most recently, the Independent on Sunday. He is author of two highly acclaimed political biographies, Scargill: The Unauthorised Biography and Madam Speaker: The Life of Betty Boothroyd.
