Bitter end for Pelosi as Speaker of the House

NANCY PELOSI, the first woman to serve as US Speaker of the House, appeared out of a job after a short but productive four years in office, as Republicans retook the chamber she ran with gusto.

Pelosi, 70, won the distinction of being the highest woman ever elected to office in the United States. But while she earned the affection of Democrats for her strict and skilful running of the House of Representatives, she swiftly became the woman the Republicans most loved to hate.

Always impeccably turned out, the representative from California is an influential and powerful lawmaker and a charismatic speaker. President Barack Obama has credited her with helping to push through some of his key reforms.