THE House of Lords demonstrated its boldness when embracing constitutional change yesterday when it elected a women educated at a grammar school as its first Lord Speaker.

Baroness Hayman, 57, ended centuries of tradition as, wearing a patterned skirt and mauve jacket, she walked the short distance from her seat on the Labour benches to take her new place on the Woolsack.

Today she will be wearing court dress when she resumes her seat on the Woolsack, although she will borrow an outfit while her own is made up for her by specialist tailors.

Many peers, especially among the Conservatives and crossbenchers, had opposed the creation of the post and wanted the Lord Chancellor, the oldest post in the Government, to remain as speaker of their chamber. But when the Lords came to vote they preferred Lady Hayman, from an ordinary Jewish background in Wolverhampton, over two Old Etonian hereditary peers who were her nearest challengers.

In a break with protocol, Labour and Lib Dem peers broke into applause after the Clerk of the Parliaments, Paul Hayter, announced her election to the House and the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Luce, confirmed her appointment by the Queen.

Lady Hayman, in a short acceptance speech, emphasised that she had required support from all sides of the Lords to be elected. “Nobody could take up the position I have today without a sense of honour and a sense of history,” she said. “It is customary on these occasions to say that your predecessor is a very hard act to follow. When you have to talk about several centuries of predecessors, there is a tremendous sense of responsibility.”

Lady Hayman must now resign her membership of the Labour Party, which she joined at Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1968, under the rules of her office that require holders to renounce party politics for life.

She will also give up her outside interests, which include the chairmanship of the Human Tissue Authority and membership of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and will receive a salary of £102,685 plus a housing allowance of £33,990 a year. She will continue the Lords custom of self regulation and not intervene from the Woolsack.

Several factors might have counted against Lady Hayman in the election. Some peers were against choosing an ex-MP, in order to preserve the separate identity of the Lords, and others might have preferred a backbencher, opposition peer or crossbencher rather than a former Labour minister. Women are also in a minority in the Upper House, although their numbers are growing: there are now 134 women among just over 700 peers.

But in the voting, conducted using the alternative vote system, Lady Hayman was well ahead from the first round and her nearest challenger was Lord Grenfell, a crossbencher who picked up support strongly in later rounds and whom she finally beat by 263 votes to 236.

Times Recommends

• Swine flu vaccine for all as drug rushed through
• Artificial sperm and the race to build a baby
• BBC jets out stars to tout for prizes