Clare Short | |
|---|---|
_(cropped_2).jpg) Short in 2011 | |
| Secretary of State for International Development | |
| In office 2 May 1997 – 12 May 2003 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Chalker of Wallasey[a] |
| Succeeded by | The Baroness Amos |
| Member of Parliament forBirmingham Ladywood | |
| In office 9 June 1983 – 12 April 2010 | |
| Preceded by | John Sever |
| Succeeded by | Shabana Mahmood |
| Shadow portfolios | |
| 1996–1997 | Shadow Minister for Overseas Development |
| 1995–1996 | Shadow Secretary of State for Transport |
| 1993–1995 | Shadow Minister for Women |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1946-02-15)15 February 1946 (age 79) Birmingham, England |
| Political party | Independent (since 2006) |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (until 2006) |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | University of Leeds |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Official website |
Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served asSecretary of State for International Development from 1997 to 2003.
Short began her career as a civil servant. A member of theLabour Party until 2006, she wasMember of Parliament forBirmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010.
Following the1997 United Kingdom general election, Short was made the first cabinet-level Secretary of State for International Development. She resigned fromthe cabinet over theIraq War. She also resigned theparty whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as anindependent politician, leaving parliament at the2010 general election.[1]
Short was born inBirmingham in 1946 toIrish Catholic parents fromCounty Armagh, Northern Ireland.[2][3][4] She attendedSt Paul's School for Girls in Birmingham.[5]
She was later supportive of peacefulSinn Féin initiatives, but never a supporter ofIRA violence, some of the worst of which was inflicted in a 1974bombing of her home city of Birmingham.[6][7]
Completing her degree inpolitical science at theUniversity of Leeds, she became a civil servant working for theHome Office. Working as Private Secretary to theConservative ministerMark Carlisle gave her the idea that she "could do better" than many of the MPs she dealt with, and at the1983 general election she was elected as MP for theBirmingham Ladywood constituency, the area in which she had grown up.
Short is a paternal cousin of Canadian actorMartin Short.[8]
At the start of her career, she was firmly on the left-wing of theLabour Party. She gained some notoriety shortly after her election in 1983 when she implied the government's Employment ministerAlan Clark was drunk at thedespatch box.[9] Clark's colleagues on the government benches in turn accused Short of using unparliamentary language and theDeputy Speaker,Ernest Armstrong, asked her to withdraw her accusation.[10] Clark later admitted in his diaries that Short had been correct in her assessment.
In 1986, Short introduced a Private Members Bill in the House of Commons which proposed banningPage 3 photographs of topless models featured inThe Sun and other Britishtabloid newspapers.[11][12] In order to ensure her motion would be tabled, she slept in Parliament overnight. For this Private Members Bill, she was nicknamed by The Sun "killjoy Clare" and "Crazy Clare."[13][14] One paper bought and published alleged photographs of Short in her nightwear from her ex-husband. She stated they were pictures of somebody else's body with her face superimposed.[15] The Sun also sent a busload of Page 3 models to her home where she lived with her elderly mother.[14] Clare gave a definitive account of her attitude towards tabloid nudity and the negative role that pornography plays more generally in society in her introduction to the bookDear Clare (1991), which presents a selection of the many letters of support she received from women in response to her campaign.[11][16]
She supportedJohn Prescott in theLabour Party deputy leadership election in 1988 (againstEric Heffer and the incumbentRoy Hattersley), leaving theSocialist Campaign Group, along withMargaret Beckett, as a result ofTony Benn's decision to challengeNeil Kinnock for the party leadership. She supportedMargaret Beckett for theLabour leadership in 1994 againstTony Blair andJohn Prescott. She also called for the withdrawal of British troops fromNorthern Ireland.
In 1989 she raised the issue of abuse of police procedure and fabrication of evidence at theWest Midlands Serious Crime Squad, relaying concerns of Birmingham solicitors that many miscarriages of justice had taken place.[17]
She rose through the ranks of the LabourFront Bench, despite twice resigning from it – over thePrevention of Terrorism Act in 1988, and over theGulf War in 1990. She becameShadow Minister for Women (1993–1995),Shadow Transport Secretary (1995–1996) and Opposition Spokesperson for Overseas Development (1996–1997).[18] Clare was also a member of Labour'sNational Executive Committee (NEC) from 1988 to 1997 and Chair of the NEC's Women's Committee (1993–1996).[18] At the 1995 Labour Party conference, Short denouncedLiz Davies as "unsuitable" after Davies had been selected as a Parliamentary candidate by a constituency Labour Party in Leeds North-East. This was seen as an attempt to win the favour of the right-wing of the party, especially then-leaderTony Blair.[19] In 1996, Short was moved to the Overseas Development portfolio, a move which she saw as a demotion.[20] Short also called for thelegalisation of cannabis.
Following the1997 general election, the Overseas Development Administration was given full departmental status as theDepartment for International Development, with Short as the firstcabinet-level Secretary of State for International Development.[18] She retained this post throughout the first term of the Labour government, and beyond the2001 general election into the second.
On her appointment to the DfID, journalists asked Short whether she would be "good" (in other words, not cause embarrassment to the government). She replied "I'm going to try to be good but I can't help it, I have to be me."[21] A few months later, the island ofMontserrat (one of the United Kingdom's few remaining overseas territories) was devastated by a volcanic eruption which rendered half the island uninhabitable; when the 4,500 islanders asked for more help from the DfID, Short was reported to have remarked "they will be asking for golden elephants next". This remark caused offended the Montserratians and others; Labour MPBernie Grant said that "She sounds like a mouthpiece for an old nineteenth century colonial and Conservative government."[22]
On 6 November 1997, Short sent a letter toKumbirai Kangai, Minister of Agriculture ofZimbabwe, in which she stated that "we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe." She went on to write "We are a new government from diverse backgrounds, without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and, as you know, we were colonised, not colonisers." In the same letter she offered qualified support for land reform: "We do recognise the very real issues you face over land reform... we would be prepared to support a programme of land reform that was part of a poverty eradication strategy, but not on any other basis." This letter caused a rift with the Zimbabwean government, which asserted that theLancaster House Agreement of 1979 had contained a pledge from the United Kingdom government to assist inland reform.[23]
In December 1997, Short signed the UK into the Ottawa Convention, banning the production, handling and use ofanti-personnel mines.[24]
In 2001, she wrote that the "ready availability of small arms has a direct and negative impact upon levels of crime and conflict in developing countries. We (the DFID) are supporting various peace building and disarmament initiatives."[25] The following year, she stated that Britain was "committed to combating small arms availability and misuse."[26]
Short approved of the 1999NATO bombing of the headquarters of Serbian state television, in which sixteen media workers were killed and sixteen others wounded, because the station was, as she put it, "a source of propaganda".[27]
On 9 March 2003, Short repeatedly calledTony Blair "reckless" in a BBC radio interview[28] and threatened to resign from the Cabinet in the event of the UK Government going to war withIraq without a clear mandate from the United Nations. This looked set to be a reprise of her previous resignation as party spokesperson during theGulf War of 1991 as a protest against the Labour Party's stance, although in 1999 she had publicly supported theNATO attack on Serbia. On 18 March she announced that she would remain in the Cabinet and support the government's resolution in the House of Commons.
Short remained in the Cabinet for two months following her decision to back the2003 Iraq War. She resigned on 12 May. In her resignation statement in the House of Commons the following day she stated: "In both the run-up to the war and now, I think the UK is making grave errors in providing cover for the US mistakes rather than helping an old friend... American power alone cannot make America safe... But undermining international law and the authority of the UN creates the risk of instability, bitterness and growing terrorism that will threaten the future for all of us."[29]
Her later, Conservative, successor in the post,Andrew Mitchell, described her as "a brilliant development secretary".[30]
On 26 February 2004, Short alleged on theBBCToday radio programme thatBritish spies regularly intercept UN communications, including those ofKofi Annan, thenSecretary-General.[31] The claim was made the day after the unexplained dropping ofwhistleblowing charges against formerGCHQ translatorKatharine Gun. Reacting to Short's statement,Tony Blair said "I really do regard what Clare Short has said this morning as totally irresponsible, and entirely consistent [with Short's character]." Blair also claimed that Short had put British security, particularly the security of its spies, at risk.[32]
A few days later, on 29 February, Short appeared onITV'sJonathan Dimbleby programme, on which she revealed that she had been written to by Britain's most senior civil servant,Cabinet SecretaryAndrew Turnbull. Turnbull's confidential letter (which Short showed to Dimbleby, and which was quoted on the programme) formally admonished her for discussing intelligence matters in the media, and threatened "further action" if she did not desist from giving interviews on the issue. Turnbull wrote that she had made claims "which damage the interests of the United Kingdom", and that he was "extremely disappointed". The "further action" referred to in the letter has been interpreted as threatening either Short's expulsion from thePrivy Council or legal action under the Official Secrets Act. Either course of action have been without recent precedent; at the time, no Privy Counsellor had been expelled sinceSir Edgar Speyer was accused of collaborating with the Germans during theFirst World War. On 1 March 2004, a Downing Street spokesman refused to rule out such a step. In the same interview withJonathan Dimbleby, Short backtracked on her claim about British agents bugging Annan. She admitted that the transcripts she saw of Annan's private conversations might have related to Africa and not to Iraq. Asked whether she could confirm that the transcripts related to Iraq, she said: "I can't, but there might well have been ... I cannot remember a specific transcript in relation, it doesn't mean it wasn't there." Short also said that her original claim, on theToday programme, that Britain had eavesdropped on Annan, may have been inaccurate. Asked whether the material could have passed to the British by the Americans, she said: "It could. But it normally indicates that. But I can't remember that."[33]
Clare Short's book,An Honourable Deception?: New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power, was released byFree Press in November 2004.[34][35] It was an account of her career inNew Labour, most notably her relationship with Prime MinisterTony Blair, the relationship between Blair andGordon Brown and the build-up to the2003 invasion of Iraq. The book won Channel 4's Political Book of the Year Award for 2004.[36]
Short has condemned Israel as being guilty of "bloody, brutal and systematic annexation of land, destruction of homes and the deliberate creation of an apartheid system." She has also stated that "the EU and Britain are colluding in this operation and the building of a new apartheid regime" because they give Israel privileged trade access.[37]Short has expressed support for a boycott of Israel, stating at the 2007 United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace that "The boycott worked for South Africa, it is time to do it again".[38][39] She also told the conference that Israel is "much worse than the original apartheid state" and that Israel "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming".[40][41]
According toThe Guardian, Short accepted £1,580 worth of flights, hotel accommodation, food and travel expenses fromal-Manar Television inLebanon in 2008. Al-Manar is described by the US government as "the media arm of the Hezbollah terrorist network", and was classed as a specially designated terrorist entity by the US in 2006.
Short said her trip had been registered with Commons authorities and that the visit allowed her to see how reconstruction in southern Lebanon was proceeding after the country's conflict with Israel in 2006.[42]
On 12 September 2006, Short announced that she would not be standing at the next general election.[43] In a brief statement, Short said she was "ashamed" ofTony Blair's government and backedproportional representation, which she hoped would be achieved through ahung parliament.[44] The Labour PartyChief Whip referred the matter to the Labour Party National Executive Committee to consider disciplinary action.[45] On Friday 20 October, Short resigned the Labourwhip and announced that she would sit as an Independent Labour MP.[46][47] Short received a written reprimand from Labour's Chief Whip shortly before the news of her resignation of the party whip was announced.[48]
AfterGordon Brown succeededTony Blair as Prime Minister, Short said that the change offered "a new beginning", and hinted that she might re-join the parliamentary Labour Party if Brown changed the policies that had caused her to leave.[49]
On 2 February 2010, Shortappeared before theChilcot Inquiry into Iraq. During this she repeatedly criticisedTony Blair, Attorney GeneralPeter Goldsmith and others in the UK Government for allegedly deceiving her and other MPs in an attempt to obtain consent for the invasion of Iraq.[50][51][52]
On 1 March 2011, she was elected as Chairwoman of theEITI (the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) at the EITI Global Conference in Paris.[53]
Since 2006, Short has been a member of theCities Alliance Policy Advisory Board and subsequently chaired the Policy Advisory Forum,[54] described as a "platform for public discussion, debate and knowledge sharing" on urban poverty and the role of cities.[55]
In January 2011, Short expressed an interest in becoming a candidate for the Mayor of Birmingham, pending the outcome ofa referendum on the creation of a directly-elected mayoralty in the city.[56] Ultimately, the proposal was defeated at a public vote in May 2012.[57]
On 21 May 2008, Short gave a lecture as part of theEbor Lectures 2008 Series entitled "Apocalypse Now – Global Equity and Sustainable Living, the Preconditions for Human Survival". She spoke of the need to end the "throw-away society". She considered the changing conception of the world since the 1960s and emphasised the need for us to consider the consequences of today's environmental concerns for the generations of the future.[58]
Since 2018, Short has collaborated with public artistMartin Firrell. Firrell has quoted Short on billboards displayed across the UK. For the artist'sPower and Gender series (2019), Short contributed the text, 'Distorted Power and Great Inequality Are Evil'.[59]
TheUnion City series (2019) included Short's observation that 'Socialism Is A Moral Idea'. Short explained: "People want to make socialism mean theSoviet Union and so on, but it also meantClement Attlee becoming British Prime Minister in 1945, and the development of the welfare state across Europe after the war: actions that produced the best and most civilised time we have ever experienced. And what has capitalism meant? The Chilean dictatorPinochet, slavery, famine! My point is that socialism is first and foremost a moral idea not an economic system."[59][60]
_Digital_Billboards%2c_UK_2019.jpg)
_Digital_Billboards%2c_UK_2019.jpg)
Short was briefly married to a fellowKeele University student at 18 after they had a baby when she was 17. The couple's son was given up foradoption, and did not make contact with his mother until 1996. She then discovered that her son, Toby, was aConservative supporter who worked as a solicitor in theCity of London, and had three children.[61]
Clare Short married Alex Lyon, then Labour MP for York.[62]
In 1993, Short was called away from the Labour party conference to hear that her husband was very ill and likely to die. In her bookAn Honourable Deception, she describes how "after losing his parliamentary seat, he moved from being a senior Labour MP to running my constituency office where he gave me enormous support as well as bringing great experience to the task. Later he decided to return to the Bar, but after a time got himself into various difficulties and I began to suspect that either he was suffering a deep depression or mental deterioration. The next few years were very difficult as he engaged in strange, inexplicable behaviour. He gradually fell out with family and friends and stayed home with our St Bernard called Fred and would deal with no one but Fred and me."[62]
In June 2009, Short received an honorary degree ofDoctor of Laws from theUniversity of Ulster in recognition of her services to international development.[63] In 2013, she was recognized as one of the BBC's "100 women".[64]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood 1983–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded byas Minister of State for Overseas Development | Secretary of State for International Development 1997–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Ministers of overseas development | .svg) | |
|---|---|---|
| Secretaries of state for international development | ||
| Ministers of state for development | ||
* Served as Minister for (Overseas) Development as aminister of state at theForeign Office | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
