Items13The creator’s order
  1. 1William Pitt the YoungerWilliam Pitt the YoungerBorn 28 May 1759Maiden speech, February 26, 1781 Aged 21 and seated for Appleby only weeks earlier, Pitt rose in support of Burke's plan of economical reform, a measure to cut the Crown's patronage. Burke's verdict, usually reported as not a chip off the old block but the old block itself, a nod to Pitt's father,…0
  2. 2Benjamin DisraeliBenjamin DisraeliBorn 21 Dec 1804Maiden speech, December 7, 1837 The great failure among first speeches, and the most instructive. Disraeli spoke in a debate on Irish election petitions, and Daniel O'Connell's supporters met his elaborate phrases with laughter and noise until Hansard recorded that much of what he said could not…0
  3. 3David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd GeorgeBorn 17 Jan 1863Maiden speech, June 13, 1890 A 27-year-old Welsh Liberal, in the House for barely two months, used his first speech to take on two of the biggest names in politics. The government planned to spend public money buying out pub licenses, and he opposed compensating publicans, calling it a puny…0
  4. 4Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillBorn 30 Nov 1874Maiden speech, February 18, 1901 A 26-year-old Conservative, fresh from reporting the war in South Africa, rose straight after David Lloyd George's attack on the Boer War. Churchill called the amendment mild and moderate and said the bitterness of Lloyd George's speech was all his own, then…0
  5. 5F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of BirkenheadF. E. Smith, 1st Earl of BirkenheadMaiden speech, March 12, 1906 The debut often called the most famous of all, and the plainest case of the gentle-first-speech convention thrown away on purpose. The January 1906 election had crushed the Conservatives, and the new member for Liverpool Walton used a free trade debate to make his…0
  6. 6Nancy Astor, Viscountess AstorNancy Astor, Viscountess AstorBorn 19 May 1879Maiden speech, February 24, 1920 The first time the Commons heard a woman member speak. Astor, the first woman to take her seat, stood before a chamber of several hundred men, many of them hostile, and chose what she called that vexed question, Drink, opposing a motion to lift the wartime…0
  7. 7Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of AsheridgeJennie Lee, Baroness Lee of AsheridgeBorn 3 Nov 1904Maiden speech, April 25, 1929 A miner's daughter from Fife, just elected for North Lanark at 24 and the youngest member of the House, went straight for the Chancellor in the Finance Bill debate. She called Winston Churchill's budget a mixture of cant, corruption and incompetence, and a Unionist…0
  8. 8Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherBorn 13 Oct 1925Maiden speech, February 5, 1960 The rare first speech that changed the law. The new member for Finchley had won a place in the private members' ballot and used her debut to move the Second Reading of her own bill opening council meetings to the press. She gave Finchley a single sentence, saying it…0
  9. 9Bernadette Devlin McAliskeyBernadette Devlin McAliskeyBorn 23 Apr 1947Maiden speech, April 22, 1969 Elected for Mid Ulster at 21, then the youngest woman ever returned to the Commons, Devlin made her maiden speech on the day she arrived in Parliament, rather than settling in first as new members usually do. She spoke as Northern Ireland's crisis deepened and turned…0
  10. 10Tony BlairTony BlairBorn 6 May 1953Maiden speech, July 6, 1983 Worth reading for the gap between the speaker and the man he became. Labour had just suffered its worst defeat in decades, and the new member for Sedgefield used a Finance Bill debate to describe unemployment of over 40 percent around the Wingate employment exchange.…0