3 years too late: Clare Short quits Labour party

[BarryW]

BBC News

Its not as if she has any credibility left to save....but she's given it a shot.
Her reasons for leaving are almost incredible:

In a letter to Labour's chief whip, the Birmingham Ladywood MP accuses Tony Blair of telling "half-truths and deceits to get us to war in Iraq".

Ms Short told BBC News 24 that it took her a week to write the letter

(A week?? More like 3 years....)

Evidence of the half-truths and deceit go back to the time the war started, and, more definitively, to the Dr. David Kelly affair. So why is she only bothered by it now?

Here is a straw poll of what her Labour colleagues think of her:

Ms Short was accused of being a "traitor" by Labour peer Lord Foulkes.

Khalid Mahmood, MP for neighbouring Birmingham Perry Barr, said: "The party has always stood up for Clare, but Clare hasn't always stood up for the party."

But Mr Kilfoyle, who quit the government over the Iraq war, spoke for many when he expressed bemusement at Ms Short's latest move.

"I would ask what she hopes to achieve by resigning. No matter how strongly you feel about issues, you should stay inside the party and fight your cause.

"She voted for the war, and I never understood the logic of voting for the war and then resigning from the Cabinet. I do not understand why she has taken the line she has

Short has, bizarrely, called for a Hung Parliament at the next General Election - ie. hoping that her Labour "friends" lose their seats. She made a similar call in the last Parliament, only to stand as a Labour candidate and support a manifesto which she later went on to criticise.

The big question is: Why now?? Why bother resigning at the 11th hour when your credibility is already in tatters and the call of martyrdom has long since passed?

[Jozer]

The title escapes me, but Edwina Currie wrote a 'bodice-ripper' about Westminster a few years back. It's worth a read if you want to know more about Clare Short, as one of the central characters is clearly meant to be her, to the point that her failure to challenge it suggests that it's accurate.

[Catalpa]

The title escapes me, but Edwina Currie wrote a 'bodice-ripper' about Westminster a few years back. It's worth a read if you want to know more about Clare Short, as one of the central characters is clearly meant to be her, to the point that her failure to challenge it suggests that it's accurate.

She has lost a lot of credibility since the Iraq invasion.

She should have resigned then.