In Songs of Praise, Michael Buerk also meets Betty Boothroyd, the first woman to be Speaker of the House of Commons, who tells him she relaxes by going paragliding.

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Superficially, giving those powers to Betty Boothroyd, the current speaker, or her successors as speaker might seem to get around that, since her office is by tradition a non-partisan one.

ECONOMIST: The monarchy

Miss Boothroyd, or "our Betty" as Labour's Peter Snape described her, also broke a few traditions herself by using her statement to urge MPs and ministers, once again, not to downgrade Parliament.

BBC: Speaker goes out on a high note