Baroness Betty Boothroyd to auction clothes - so she can buy a new garage door

The 91-year-old, who was born in Dewsbury, is auctioning off the clothing she wore during her eight years as the only woman speaker of the Commons after recently moving house.

Back in April she revealed she was selling a haul of gifts she received during her political career because they wouldn’t fit in her new cottage.

The items – which included a papier-mâché box the late Russian president Boris Yeltsin gave to her – fetched more than £4,000 in the sale.

Baroness Boothroyd is now parting with some of her wardrobe in order to raise funds for a new garage door after downsizing from her London home to a cottage in Cambridgeshire.

The items will be sold at Hansons Auctioneers, in London, on September 25.

Chris Kirkham, associate director of Hansons London, said: “Baroness Boothroyd is a national treasure and she wore these items when she was Madam Speaker, which makes them part of Britain’s political history.

"She is a wonderful lady and always makes me smile. She told me any money raised from the sale of the Madam Speaker shoes and jacket would go towards a new garage door.”