A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a
legislature
A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...
or
parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
.
Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many
Westminster system
The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...
governments, there is a convention that maiden speeches should be relatively uncontroversial, often consisting of a general statement of the politician's beliefs and background rather than a partisan comment on a current topic.
This convention is not always followed, however. For example, the maiden speeches of
Pauline Hanson in the Australian House of Representatives in 1996,
Fraser Anning in the Australian Senate in 2018 and
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
in the United States House of Representatives in 1947,
broke the tradition.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
's maiden speech in the House of Commons in 1959 included the successful introduction of the bill which became the
Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960.
There is also a strong convention in some countries, such as in the Netherlands, that maiden speeches should not be subjected to interruption or interjection, and should not be attacked or dismissed by subsequent speakers. Another convention in the British House of Commons is that a Member of Parliament will include tribute in a maiden speech to previous incumbents of their seat.
Some countries, notably Australia, no longer formally describe a politician's first speech as a "maiden" speech, referring only to it as a "first" speech. The Australian Parliament website and Hansard records no longer use 'maiden' as a term, but the word remains common in discourse and colloquial use.
UK House of Commons
The first maiden speeches following general elections were:
References
Speeches by type
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