Carol West

Carol Bird West (b. March 15, 1940) is a member of the Georgeland House of Commons. West recieved no formal education. In 1960 she joined the United Islands Labour Party and represented her local community, the Bradmarch town of St. Peter's, in the state legislature from 1976-1983. In 1983 she was elected to the House of Commons for the rural seat of Conway. She held the seat at every election afterwards. In 1992 she was elected to be Speaker and became the first woman to hold the position. Her term as Speaker was uneventful, but she was the last Speaker from the Quarton Labour government. In 1995, with Quarton's defeat, West returned to the backbench, where she remained. When Labour under Campbell Rhodes regained power in October 1995, West again nominated for the Speaker's position but lost out to future minister Michael Boyle. She served briefly as a Parliamentary Private Secretary 1996-1997 before resigning over failure to declare business interests in her portfolio. She remained in parliament. In 1999, West did not defect with Rhodes to form the United Islands Liberal Party and remained a Labour member until 2004, when the Labour Party collapsed. After Labour voted itself out of existence, West sat as an Independent for five days before joining the new Liberal Democratic Party of the United Islands. West is part of the party's broad left faction. She was widely rumoured to retire at the Georgeland legislative election, 2005 but did not - she has since announced her current term will be her last. She is the longest-serving woman currently sitting in the Commons, giving her the informal title of "Mother of the House".