List of electoral firsts in the United Kingdom

Women over 30 granted the right to vote: 1918

Women granted the right to vote on the same terms as men: 1928

First female MPs:

• Countess Markievicz, Sinn Féin MP for Dublin St Patrick's, from 1918 to 1922[1]

Due to the abstentionist policy of Sinn Féin, Markievicz never took her seat in Westminster.

• Viscountess Astor, Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton, from 1919 to 1945[1]

First female cabinet minister

• Margaret Bondfield, Labour MP, 1923–4 and 1926–31 and Minister of Labour, 1929–31

First female member of the House of Lords

• Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, Baroness Swanborough, Crossbench peer, 1958-71

First female Commons Government Whip

• Harriet Slater, Labour MP, 1964–1966[2]

First female Lords Government Whip

• Annie Llewelyn-Davies, Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe, Labour Lords Chief Whip, 1973–82

First female prime minister

• Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister 1979–1990

First female leader of the House of Lords

• Janet Young, Baroness Young, Conservative Leader 1981–1983

First female speaker in the House of Commons

• Betty Boothroyd, Labour Speaker 1992–2000

First female leader of the House of Commons

• Ann Taylor, Labour Leader 1997–1998

First female Law Lord

• Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, 2004–present

First female speaker in the House of Lords

• Helene Hayman, Baroness Hayman, Lord Speaker 2006–2011 (and first person to hold that title)

First female Lord Spiritual

• Rachel Treweek, The Lord Bishop of Gloucester, 2015–present

First blind MP

• Henry Fawcett, Liberal MP for Brighton, 1864–1874[3][4]

First blind member of the House of Lords

• Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale, Conservative peer, 1958-74

First blind Cabinet member

• David Blunkett,[4] Labour Secretary of State for Education, 1997 to 2001, then Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004

First blind MSP

• Dennis Robertson, SNP MSP for Aberdeenshire West, 2011-16

First female blind MP (and first black blind MP)

• Marsha de Cordova, Labour MP for Battersea, 2017-present

First MP in a wheelchair

• Arthur MacMorrough Kavanagh, Conservative MP for County Wexford (1866–1868) and for County Carlow (1868–1880). MacMurrough Kavanagh (who had been born with partially formed arms and legs) was given dispensation to be accompanied in the Commons Chamber by a servant who helped place him on the benches.

First female MP in a wheelchair

• Anne Begg, Labour MP for Aberdeen South, 1997-2015[5][6]

First black MPs:

• John Stewart, Tory MP for Lymington, 1832-1847 [7]
• Henry Redhead Yorke, Whig MP for City of York, 1841-1848 [8]
• Peter McLagan, Liberal MP for Linlithgowshire, 1865-1893[9]
• Bernie Grant, Labour MP for Tottenham, 1987–2000
• Paul Boateng, Labour MP for Brent South, 1987–2005
• Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, 1987–present

First black woman MP

• Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, 1987–present

First black cabinet member

• Paul Boateng, Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 2002–2005

First black female Cabinet member

• Valerie Amos, Labour Secretary of State for International Development, May–October 2003

First elected black female minister

• Dawn Butler, Labour Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement, October 2009 –May 2010[10]

First elected black Secretary of State

• Kwasi Kwarteng, Conservative Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2021-present

First black AM

• Vaughan Gething, Labour and Co-op AM for Cardiff South and Penarth, 2011-present

First Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland of Chinese origin

• Anna Lo (盧曼華), Alliance Party MLA for Belfast South, 2007–2016

First British MP of Chinese origin

• Alan Mak, Conservative MP for Havant, 2015–present

First female British MP of Chinese origin

• Sarah Owen, Labour MP for Luton North, 2019-present

First Czech-born MP

• Robert Maxwell,, Labour MP for Buckingham 1964-1970

First Polish-born MP

• Daniel Kawczynski, Conservative MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, 2005–present

• Note: South Asians include those of Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Nepalese or Bangladeshi ancestry.

First South Asian MP (and first Zoroastrian MP)

• Dadabhai Naoroji, Liberal MP for Finsbury Central, from 1892 to 1895[11]

First South Asian Cabinet member

• Sajid Javid, Conservative Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport from 2014 to 2015, then Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (2015–2016), Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (2016–2018), Home Secretary (2018–2019) and finally Chancellor of the Exchequer (2019–2020).

Javid who was of Pakistani descent, was succeeded by Rishi Sunak, who is of Indian descent. This is the first time that an ethnic minority in one of the Great Offices of State has been succeeded by another person from that category.[12]

First South Asian Member of the Welsh Assembly

• Mohammad 'Oscar' Asghar, Conservative AM for South Wales East from 2007–present [13]

First South Asian Member of the Scottish Parliament

• Bashir Ahmad, Scottish National Party MSP for Glasgow, from 2007 to 2009 [14][15]

First female South Asian MP

• Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, 2010-present
• Priti Patel, Conservative MP for Witham 2010-present[16]

First Jewish MP

• Lionel de Rothschild, Liberal MP for City of London, from 1847 to 1868 [17]

First female Jewish MP

• Marion Phillips, Labour MP for Sunderland, 1929-31

First Jewish speaker in the House of Commons

• John Bercow, 2009–2019 [18]

[19]

First Muslim MP

• Mohammad Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Central, 1997-2010

First female Muslim MPs

• Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, 2010-present
• Shabana Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, 2010-present
• Yasmin Qureshi, Labour MP for Bolton South East, 2010-present

First hijab-wearing Muslim MP

• Apsana Begum, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, 2019-present

First Hindu MP

• Shailesh Vara, Conservative MP for North West Cambridgeshire, 2005-present

First Sikh MP

• Piara Khabra, Labour MP for Ealing Southall, 1992-2007

First female Sikh MP

• Preet Gill, Labour Co-op MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, 2017-present

First turban-wearing Sikh MP

• Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Labour MP for Slough, 2017-present

First openly lesbian MP: Maureen Colquhoun, Labour MP for Northampton North, 1974-79 (outed before coming out)

First openly gay MP (and first openly gay Cabinet minister): Chris Smith, Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, from 1983 to 2005 and National Heritage/Culture secretary, 1997-2001 [20]

First openly gay Member of the House of Lords: Waheed Alli, Baron Alli, Labour Member of the House of Lords, 1998-present (came out in 1999)

First openly bisexual MP: Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, from 1983 - 2015 (outed before coming out, came out in 2006)

First openly transgender MEP: Nikki Sinclaire, United Kingdom Independence Party (later Independent) MEP for the West Midlands from 2009 – 2014. Sinclaire stepped down shortly after coming out in 2013.[21] There has not yet been an openly transgender Member of Parliament.

First openly lesbian Member of the House of Lords: Deborah Stedman-Scott, Baroness Stedman-Scott, Conservative Member of the House of Lords, 2010-present

First openly lesbian Cabinet minister: Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development, 2012-16 (came out in 2016)

First openly pansexual MP: Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, from 2017-present (came out in 2020)

• List of electoral firsts in Canada
• List of electoral firsts in New Zealand