Stirring stories of women in Parliament
To mark the centenary of (some) women being allowed to vote, Iain Dale and Jacqui Smith have produced the first volume of profiles of all the women who have served as Members of Parliament, covering the period 1918-1996.
In the last one hundred years, only 491 women have been elected to and served in the House of Commons. It is still few enough to mean each one has been a pioneer in politics and each of these stories has something extraordinary about it. No one becomes a Member of Parliament without drive and more than a fair share of ambition and the stories told in this volume reveal how much more resilience and energy it takes for women to win a seat in the Mother of Parliaments.
The first woman elected was Constance Markievicz of Sinn Féin. The first to take her seat in the Commons was Nancy Astor of the Conservative Party. Labour’s Margaret Bondfield became the first woman to be a Minister in 1924 and the first to be a Cabinet Minister in 1929. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to lead a political party, elected in 1975, and the first woman Prime Minister in 1979. In 1992 Betty Boothroyd became the first woman Speaker. Not until 2006 did a woman, Margaret Beckett, serve as Foreign Secretary. And not until 2007 did Jacqui Smith serve as Home Secretary. No woman has been Chancellor. This is a book of barriers broken, of records set. There are still one or two more to go of course – Labour has yet to elect a woman leader let alone have one serve as Prime Minister.
In many ways it is invidious to draw out any one person or profile for individual mention. There are many whose names do not immediately come to mind but their profiles all show an achievement won or obstacle overcome. There are the famous names of the left – Barbara Castle, Shirley Williams, Diane Abbott for example – whose stories of overcoming prejudice of class, gender and race are fascinating. The challenge for the women of the right are similar but have their own distinctive characteristics.
Most of these women, as with their male counterparts, have faded into the mists of history but there are some fascinating stories here. Dame Irene Ward for one, an MP from 1931-1974 who with 38 years service holds the record as the longest serving woman Conservative MP. She was a doughty campaigner for women’s rights and opportunities and was rewarded with a Peerage and made a Companion of Honour. Her political contribution was substantial and she also holds the record for the largest number of Private Members’ Bills to end up as legislation – four. That takes huge political skill as well as determination. She is little remembered now, with no portrait in the Commons or statute anywhere, but she is still remembered with fondness and affection. Memorably when frustrated by an answer the Prime Minister Harold Wilson had given, she said, “I will poke the Prime Minister. I will poke him until I get a response.”
“Bloody well get on and do it, otherwise I’ll headbutt you.” Mo Mowlam to Gerry Adams during the talks on the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. Straight talking, uncompromising, and independent Mo Mowlam was a leading figure and an antidote to the high point of the years of the Blair government. She served in opposition for most of the long years of Labour’s wilderness in the 1980s and 1990s, and served in the Cabinet for Tony Blair’s first Parliament as Prime Minister. She was always robustly independent and generated the sense that if anyone was going to keep the Prime Minister’s feet on the ground it would be her. Her life was cut cruelly short through illness, which she handled in the full glare of national attention with courage and dignity. If one of the primary qualities necessary for a successful politician is resilience Mo Mowlam had it in spades.
Towering over all of them, of course, is Margaret Thatcher. It is bound to be the case. It is an overwhelming historic achievement to be the first woman to serve as Prime Minister. In choosing the former Cabinet Minister Virginia Bottomley to write her biography Dale and Smith have done Lady Thatcher some service. Bottomley, a self-confessed admirer and political disciple of Keith Joseph, brings a broader perspective and greater insight into Lady Thatcher personally than is often the case. There are surprising similarities between the two, which can be found when you read Bottomley’s profile later in the volume.
The book is well edited and stylishly produced. Those chosen to write the profiles have, on the whole, done their subjects justice. Volume 2 will complete the project – these books are set to become classic works of reference.
The Honourable Ladies Profile of women MPs 1918-1996 Volume 1, Biteback, £30