Just a minute, Betty

BLIMEY. Now I know what it's like to be an MP. Just like Tony Blair, Dennis Skinner and the rest, I have been cut off in my prime by House of Commons headmistress Betty Boothroyd. And it's pretty enfeebling, I can tell you.

For her, it's force of habit. After eight years keeping the mainly male Commons rabble in line from the Speaker's chair, Baroness Boothroyd was not about to take any nonsense from some whippersnapper of a journalist. Especially as several others were waiting patiently in line to be put in their place.

So just as our interview was warming up, she doused it in icy water. "You have got two more minutes, dear, then that's it." Sure enough, 120 seconds later (give or take a second) that was it.

She barely seems to suffer fools at all, let alone gladly. But that is as much to do with her Yorkshire upbringing as long months spent puncturing parliamentary prattle.

"When anybody says to me 'where do you come from?', I always say from the West Riding of Yorkshire. I am very proud of it," she said.

"We are a very stoic people, actually. We're quite frank to the point of being rather rude. That's probably a quality that we have to curb."

Despite her love for both Yorkshire and Parliament, she is no fan of the campaign for a Yorkshire parliament.

"I don't see why we should separate a small country into small parliaments and be over-governed. We had so many people who didn't even take the trouble to vote at the last election."

Born and brought up in Dewsbury, Betty's autobiography reveals she is very much a product of her northern working class roots. Two months after she was born, the Thirties started, a decade that began in depression and ended in war.

Father Archibald, a weftman, was often unemployed, leaving the family to live on the wages of mother Mary, a mill worker. It was Mary who instilled a sense of the thrilling potential of politics into young Betty. So when her initial hopes of becoming a professional dancer were dashed, she pursued her dream of becoming an MP full time.

It took all of her Yorkshire grit to get there. After 16 years and four unsuccessful attempts to reach Parliament, she became MP for West Bromwich in the 1973 by-election. She soon earned a reputation as a hard-working backbencher and was elevated to the role of a whip.

But it was her election as Deputy Speaker in 1987, then Speaker in 1992, that brought her world-wide renown.

That was the apex of a political career that proved a woman could thrive in the Westminster men's club.

"I came through at a time when it was not easy for women," she said. "There were some, like Barbara Castle and Jenny Lee, but they were rare exceptions to the rule.

"Now there are more women coming through. In the 1997 election there was a huge number of women come in, which was great.

"There are women in all walks of life. I want to see them in decision-making capacities - as permanent secretaries in Whitehall, in the judiciary.

"Women need to come through, and they are doing."

Her attitude to the cause is oddly ambivalent, however. In the book, she writes: "Politics and Parliament became the centre of my life in a way that I could not have managed as a wife and mother."

And she has little time for those calling for reform of the archaic and family-unfriendly hours of the Houses of Parliament, brusquely pointing out that on Thursdays, the House now sits from 11.30am to finish at 7pm.

Is that concession enough to allow an MP who is also a parent time with their family? "It's up to the House. If it wants to make changes, it can do," she said. End of discussion.

In places, her autobiography is similarly curt. While it offers an interesting insider's view into modern era politics, it gives little away about one of our best-loved politicians.

She expresses her dismay at the erosion of the Parliament's authority, and calls for the executive to be held to greater account in future.

So what does she make of media criticism of Tony Blair becoming increasingly presidential, particularly since September 11?

"I don't believe everything I read in the press. I wouldn't know whether Tony Blair was discussing things with the Cabinet or not.

"He needs to keep them informed, and I am sure that is exactly what he's doing. He can't do any more than he is doing. I don't think he's put a foot wrong since this situation began."

My time was nearly up. So I lob in an easy one. Who are her favourite parliamentarians? "The Speaker doesn't have favourites, dear." Oh. Er, well, who gave the best speeches?

"You're trying to put the question in another way, dear. So I am not answering that."

I've one last chance to pin down this elusive woman. Time for the killer question...

What are your plans for the future, Baroness? This, mercifully, was answered. "Last November, I said to Michael Parkinson, 'I'm going to take a gap year'. At that time I still had this book to do.

"I have never worked so hard in my life. So next year's my gap year."

Betty Boothroyd: The Autobiography is published by Random House, price £17.99