Midlands: Clare Short resigns

Birmingham MP Clare Short loves Ladywood, now she will be able to spend more time there!

Clare Short accused PM and Foreign Secretary of "breaching assurances"

Her resignation from the Cabinet comes after the latest in the long line of controversies throughout her twenty years in Parliament.

Ladywood, an inner city suburb of Birmingham, has never been far from Clare Short's heart. She was born in 1946, one of seven children, the daughter of an Irish Republican.

Young Clare was relied upon by school friends to defend them against the playground bully at St Paul's Grammar School ... a role that also characterized her political life.

She won her first seat in Parliament in 1983 - returning to the area where she grew up as the MP for Birmingham Ladywood - and has held the post ever since.

I think she is a strong lady

Constituent

Local people we've spoken to say, "As a person she is just like one of us, to me anyway.

"I think she is a strong lady.

"She lets her heart rule her mouth rather than her mind, but as a local MP does a pretty good job for us.

"I like her very much because she is there for us."

Never the diplomat

She told the Prime Minister she could no longer stay in Government

When she's not in London, Clare Short lives with her mother in Handsworth. To her neighbours, she's always been more of a friend than a cabinet minister.

In professional life Clare Short isn't always so diplomatic and has developed a reputation as a boat rocker. She embraced feminist causes, launching a campaign against 'page three girls' in the Sun.

Her private life has also made the tabloids. In 1996, she was reunited with her son, Toby Young, whom she had given up for adoption when she was 18.

In March her actions on the Iraq situation went down as one of the great U-turns.

Having threatened resignation before the war, she then stayed on, to help rebuild post-war Iraq. Renowned for her directness and sincerity, she is now ridiculed for pocketing her principles.

Well that's certainly the way some on the Left of the party see it. Clare Short herself is saying what outgoing Cabinet ministers always say: she'll have more time for her constituents.

I love my constituency

Clare Short MP

"I love my constituency. I've represented it for twenty years. I was born there. My mum lives there. I will still be the MP for Birmingham Ladywood. I love the values of the Labour Party."

But with other ex-Cabinet ministers speaking out, she will be seen as another high-profile recruit to Labour's awkward squad.

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