They see her as a continuation of Betty Boothroyd by other means Alas
Posted in General on 22. Aug, 2010
They see her as a continuation of Betty Boothroyd by other means Alas, she is 69, to Miss Boothroyd’s 70. She is the daughter of the greatest of all Labour general secretaries, Morgan Phillips, and will stand no nonsense from anybody, least of all from New Labour whippersnappers. That is why Mr Blair does not want her: she is in the category of Mr Rhodri Morgan and Mr Ken Livingstone So if precedent is any guide, she will win. Dr David Clark is also mentioned.But somehow I think the succession will go either to Mr Campbell or to a Tory, if for no other reason than that, in the period from 1959 to the present day, the principle of Buggins’s Turn has been followed as between the parties – though Miss Boothroyd might not have had her chance in 1992 if the Conservatives had been able to agree on one candidate of their own. Mr Nicholas Winterton has just proclaimed his candidature, but he is too rumbustious a character by far to suit the Chair. Sir George Young, the lugubrious baronet, is an Etonian, the mark of Cain among modern Tories, even if in Mr Boris Johnson they have just chosen one to fight Henley. My money is on the Deputy Speaker, Sir Alan Haselhurst.Speakers come in all shapes and sizes.
In 1895 the government nominated William Court Gully, “who knows nothing and whom nobody knows”. Lord Rosebery, the prime minister, wrote to Queen Victoria:”There is much exaggeration about the attainments requisite for a Speaker. All Speakers are highly successful, all Speakers are deeply regretted, and are generally announced to be irreplaceable. But a Speaker is soon found, and found, almost invariably, among the mediocrities of the House.”I should not like to go quite so far as that. Not one of the candidates I have mentioned is a mediocrity exactly. But none the less there is some truth in what Rosebery had to say about the matter. Even so, I really do think that Madam Speaker Boothroyd is irreplaceable.
More from Alan Watkins.
The survival prospects of the dormouse, endangered by the loss of its natural habitat, have been boosted by the discovery of two of the mammals 150 miles north of what was thought to be the limit of its normal range. The survival prospects of the dormouse, endangered by the loss of its natural habitat, have been boosted by the discovery of two of the mammals 150 miles north of what was thought to be the limit of its normal range.
Wildlife campaigners hope the discovery will prove to be the “turning point” in the fortunes of the dormouse, a creature that has suffered a dramatic decline in numbers in recent years.The dormice, one male and one female, were found in an ancient woodland near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, an area where they were believed to be locally extinct. Local wildlife experts have moved to protect the creatures in the hope that they will produce two litters a year and slowly repopulate the region.”We were fairly certain that the dormouse was extinct in Staffordshire so this is very welcome and exciting,” said Martin Adams of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. “We’re now intensifying our search for other dormice though they are extremely shy and secretive.”The dormouse, distinguished by its light tawny fur and yellowish white throat, was generally thought to have died out across the north of England and is now usually spotted only in Wales and the South Its population is just 10,000.