Talk:Clare Short

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I reverted this edit on the grounds that it seems to be full of POV assertions that need to be qualified as such (especially naming Short as a "war criminal"). Nevertheless I think it does point out some areas on which this article could be strengthened: the extent to which Short went along with the "New Labour" project, especially with regard to its relationship with the Sun and other right-wing papers; whether her resignation was genuinely principled or a case of "jumping before she was pushed"; and the consequences for her reputation on the left. I'm just not sure how to approach it, or how much of this edit can be resored. Any suggestions? --rbrwr± 12:26, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] University

I'm sure Clare Short attended the University of Leeds.

She did - section amended. Whouk (talk) 14:37, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

The bit about the suggestion of her position as a Privy Counsellor possibly being revoked needs editing as while the way it was suggested it be revoked might have been unprecedented, Jonathan Aitken and John Stonehouse would have been expelled from The Privy Council if they had not resigned first and quite possibly John Profumo would have too as in all 3 questions it went to credibility - in the case of Jonathan Aitken actually perjury.

[edit] Alan Clark incident

Can anyone remember if Short actually did withdraw the accusation? Gregg 14:20, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

She didn't and was suspended by the speaker if I recall correctly, although Alan Clark fully agreed with her and his memories of her in the debate was that she had a very nice voice (Alan Clark Diaries)--Lord of the Isles 14:37, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Resigning the Labour Whip

This very much is an ongoing event, I somehow doubt that she is going to be allowed to remain a Labour Party member while refusing as an MP to take the Labour Whip, at the very least her membership is likely to be suspended, of course this changes the parliamentary arithmetic and will have an minor effect on the leadership and deputy leadership election as she won't be able to vote in the MP's section.--Lord of the Isles 14:42, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I was just going to ask about that. I planned to write an article about her on the Norwegian enyclopedia right now and I thought this was a bit strange. I mean, if you are a member of a political party and a Member of Parliament, are you then not automatically a member of that party´s parliamentary group? If you refuse the whip, doesn´t that mean you are withdrawing your membership from that party? --Oddeivind 10:24, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
Sounds like it should make sense, but the answer is no - you can be a member of a political party in the same was as any other member of the public but still sit as an independent in Parliament, which is what Clare Short has done. Hobson 10:43, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Disciplinary proceedings

I have changed "Disciplinary procedures against her that would possibly expel her from the Labour Party were suspended shortly before the news of her resignation of the Labour whip" to "She had received a written reprimand from Labour's Chief Whip shortly before the news of her resignation of the party whip" as it is not correct that the proceedings were suspended. They were concluded with a decision that she would not be expelled, and receive a written reprimand instead. Hobson 19:31, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I had misread the date on the article in the Guardian as 20 September 2006 and have only just realised this on looking at it again.--Lord of the Isles 19:36, 20 October 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Opposition to the arms trade

I added Clare's part in the Ottawa Convention, using Mark Thomas' book about the arms trade as a source. He actually mentions her several times, but Thomas is a comedian-turned-activist, so I daren't refer to him too often. Still, he quotes her as saying, "every British minister who visits India is briefed to [advertise] Hawks... It used to get into my briefing, these kind of things, but I never did it. I'm not doing it."

I'll have a poke around to find other sources, to expand the DfID section to include her dislike of the arms trade. Any other books/articles? .--User:Wozocoxonoy 19:06, 30th December 2006 (GMT)


[edit] Birmingham, Warwickshire

Birmingham is not in Warwickshire, it is in the county of the West Midlands. However, the West Midlands county did not exist in 1946 when Short was born and (I assume at least) Birmingham was part of Warwickshire then. So is it correct to say "Clare Short was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England in 1946"? I don't know what the answer is, but it does look odd as it stands now.Hobson 01:43, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Category:People of Irish descent in Great Britain

Hi. I removed this category from the article and another editor has replaced it. Rather than edit war, I propose discussing here. I would need to see proper sources stating that Short's ethnicity is considered significant to her notability before I'd be happy to include this category here. --John (talk) 21:03, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

John, please stop being a pedant. Just do a quick google search for Clare Short Ireland, and you'll find articles such as this BBC story. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:15, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
Hey! A reliable source. That didn't kill you, did it? Do you want to add it to the article or shall I? --John (talk) 02:17, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
John, of course it didn't kill me. But you removed the category on the grounds that it was "unverifiable", which is demonstrably untrue. Now that you can see how to find a reference, you should go and do the same for the dozens of other articles you removed from Category:People of Irish descent in Great Britain. While you are fixing this one, you could also use this ref. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:42, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
Hey, nice reference. Of course I'll add them to this article for you. I don't intend to research the supposed Irish antecedents of the likes of Gary Walsh either. But that's a bit off-topic for here, don't you think? Better at Category talk:People of Irish descent in Great Britain. See you there. --John (talk) 04:14, 10 May 2008 (UTC)