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In the audio clip on this page, recorded in 1982, Jennie briefly recounts how she felt on first becoming an MP and on her maiden speech which she made in the House of Commons in late April 1929.
Newspaper cuttings within the collection reveal that her speech was fiery. She spoke to her fellow MPs as she did to the miners in North Lanark, rather than with the modesty expected of a new young woman member of the era!
Press reactions were mixed, with some being critical of Jennie’s style, and others praising it.
A review of Jennie’s speech was published in the Scottish Daily Record and Mail and was critical of Jennie’s fiery speech and manner, and drew comparisons in style with Jennie’s mentor and ILP member James Maxton:
“Not only her words, with their inflammatory appeal, but even her gestures were those which she had used in her campaign. Amid the necessitous areas of the mining villages of Lanarkshire they were justifiable, but on the floor of the House of Commons, where moderation of statement and force of argument are still held in high regard, they were lamentably out of tune.”
However, another newspaper said of her maiden speech:
“It was a vigorous attack on the budget. She held the attention of a well-filled house and at the end of her speech won the plaudits of political friend and foe.”
Whether or not people liked Jennie, she had certainly made an impact.
Jennie’s North Lanark by-election was shortly followed by the general election in 1929. The Labour Party took office as a minority government in May of that year led by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.
