Well, plenty of people are sticking the knife into Clare Short over her decision to resign the Labour whip and sits for the remainder of the parliament as an independent, but I’m not so vitriolic in my reaction. It must be said though, that Clare did make a complete hash of her stance against the Iraq War; she threatened to walk, and then when the decisions were made (including her own, she voted for the war), she hesitated and looked spinelessness before eventually leaving the cabinet. She should have stood by Robin Cook. If she had, she would have been a heroine of those who resisted the inevitability of the war in Iraq.
Since her resignation Short has made many enemies in the Labour Party with her spiteful attacks on the leadership. This came across as vindictive and spiked with vengeance, which has sullied her standing among her former comrades. She did collect some admirers among the hard left, but she would have been better placed if she had just held her tongue once or twice. Calling for a Labour defeat at the next election was inexcusable from a party MP.
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“plenty of people are sticking the knife into Clare Short” - but many aren’t!
Errors in politics are always paid, and Ms Short is no exception.
My, my, aren’t you are a self-righteous, sanctimonious bunch - who are only wise after the event ?!
Clare Short, like many of us, were duped by Blair, who in turn was duped by the Neo-Cons across the Atlantic.
Ms Short stuck with Blair, until it was quite clear that he was lying through his teeth - at which time she resigned from the Cabinet.
Ms Short, as a Labour MP continued to criticise Blair’s actions - at which time the rest of the NuLabour (and ancienne) blindly followed Blair, like blind, obedient lemmings over a cliff.
I am not a card-carrying Labour member - and thank God I’m not after the card-carriers pathetic reaction against Ms Short.
Ms Short has pretty much told the truth about the Labour Party, and how it has lost the plot.
Obviously the truth is rather too much to swallow - for the idealogical fanatics who continue to kiss the arse of their leader.
I resisted the war from day one Richard. So did Clare, so why did she vote for it?
Make all the excuses you like, she voted to send the troops into war.
Clare Short “voted to send the troops into war”, because she believed her Prime Minister, at the time, that there was a credible threat from Iraq - for example, do you remember that “45 minutes” hogwash ?
Then she had the guts to resign - and the courage to speak out - something which gutless and cowardly party apologists still fail to do.
She made a patent error by “believing” Blair. A minister cannot be gullible because a minister must be conversant with everything she/he is discussing in the cabinet meetings. It is easy not to study and be taken by the hand, but easy things are for mediocrities.
Blinding herself to anything but Blair was her main mistake, and as I said mistakes in politics are paid for.
That spot in her career will not be forgotten by the media, I can assure you.
I was against the war from day one too, but I’ve no time for Clare Short. The reason she didn’t resign before the war was because she loved her job as internatinal development secretary too much and didn’t want to make the sacrifice. And the reason she’s so angry now is that when she did make the sacrifice, she didn’t get credit for it, as too late, so she’s ended up with nothing.
Whereas both John Denham and Robin Cook handled it with much more grace and did it before the war (and they sacrificed bigger careers).
Her timing is off again - if she objects to “presidential politics” why wait till Blair has announced he is leaving to make her stand? Again, what’s the point?
Thanks Snowflake, I agree.
And Richard, I left the party over Iraq, and as much as I admire ‘Blair the politician’, I will not return to the party untill he is gone. However I have never turned on he party at large, unlike Clare.
Your loyalties are touching…but are they dangerously misplaced ?
I don’t think I’m being particularly loyal. I’m not a party apparatchik, I think I am one of the most critical Labour-leaning blogs on the scene.
Yeah, Tyger, like “being savaged by a dead sheep”…sorry, too unfair, but I feel quite strongly about this one.
I no longer trust the judgement of any Labour politician who did not openly and courageously speak out against an immoral, illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign state. Most Labour politicians openly supported the lies and deceit by silence - which is consent. A few did not - once they fully realised they were being conned and lied to.
For me, New Labour is now “NuLabor” - in bed with the “Neo-Cons” - which has turned into a monstrous “Nucon Tribe”. I would trust a snake more.
The only people who I might consider voting for next May are those who declared their opposition to the US-led war - which had nothing to do with democracy (the US is a plutocracy), and everything to do with oil.
Who are these ‘electable’ people ? Not Robin Cook (he’s dead). Not Wedgie Benn (no longer MP). Not Clare Short (unless she joins - as did Orwell - the ILP (Independent Labour Party). Who else ? Glenda Jackson ?
http://tygerland.net/2006/03/29/your-government-is-laughing-at-you/
http://tygerland.net/2006/03/22/on-the-cash-for-peerages-scandal/
http://tygerland.net/2006/03/10/browns-wealth-redistribution/
http://tygerland.net/2006/04/27/blair-on-the-ropes/
http://tygerland.net/2006/04/25/more-local-election-musings/
http://tygerland.net/2006/04/19/central-funding-is-undemocratic/
http://tygerland.net/2006/04/19/blair-and-may-5th/
There’s nothing like resurrecting a dead sheep on a wet Sunday night…and its fighting back !
Good on you, Tyger.
I think what has wound me up about this ‘Clare Short’ issue is ‘the political chatter in the talking shop’ trap, which has crept into your site.
All this talk about who will be the next Deputy Leader etc. Names which might mean something to NuLabor idealogical fanatics, but mean nothing to us, the voters.
To me, these “Nu” names are just the same old bunch who supports/supported Blair; Henry Jacksonites, Eustonites etc. They are a waste of space.
The Labour Party needs to re-discover its roots - not pull them out.
Only the likes of Clare Short/Glenda Jackson/Tony Benn etc can bring the Labour Party back from the brink…