Short to quit as MP
Clare Short has announced she will be stepping down as a Labour MP at the next general election to campaign for a hung parliament.
The former international development secretary said she had “reached a stage where I am profoundly ashamed of the government”.
She cited Tony Blair’s “craven” support for the US government, Gordon Brown’s commitment to replacing the Trident nuclear deterrent system “in one throwaway sentence” and “incredible incompetence” at the heart of government.
Added to that an erosion of the power of the House of Commons, and Ms Short said there must be a change in Britain’s political system. She called for electoral reform to ensure parliament better reflected voters’ wishes.
But this would only happen if there is a hung parliament at the next election in which neither Labour nor the Conservatives would have a majority, she argued. The subsequent election would then see a “plurality of voices” in the Commons.
The 60-year-old MP, who has represented Birmingham Ladywood for the past 23 years, resigned as international development secretary in 2003 over the Iraq war.
She was criticised for failing to go immediately after war was declared, like her colleague, Robin Cook, instead waiting until the first phase of the conflict was over.
However, her criticism of Mr Blair since then has endeared her to the left of the Labour party. Ms Short was also one of those who called for a recall of parliament this summer to deal with the Lebanon crisis.
Writing in The Independent, she attacked Mr Blair’s foreign policy, saying his “craven support for the extremism of US neoconservative foreign policy has exacerbated the danger of terrorism and the instability and suffering of the Middle East”.
The prime minister had also “dishonoured the UK, undermined the UN and international law and helped to make the world a more dangerous place”.
Anti-terror legislation had eroded civil liberties and other measures had increased Muslim alienation, she continued, and cabinet government had “gone”. Too many Labour MPs were now “obedient ciphers” at the beck and call of Mr Blair.
“Stay and fight, some argue. But there is no discussion of policy any more. The challenge to Blair and discussions of a new leadership are confined to personalities and all commit to continue the Blair errors,” Ms Short wrote.
She added: “The chief whip has warned me that I cannot recommend a hung parliament because it would mean Labour MPs losing their seats.
“I am standing down so that I can speak my truth and support the changes that are needed. Sad to say, it is now almost impossible to do this as a Labour MP.”
