There can’t be many people in the UK who haven’t heard of Clare Short. Her controversial claims about the activities of the intelligence services became the top news story for days earlier this year, and her forthright views have regularly hit the headlines ever since she became an MP more than 20 years ago.
It’s hard to imagine someone with such passionate views having any other career yet, when Clare was a girl, the idea of going into politics didn’t even cross her mind.
‘My dad was a teacher and I’ve got seven brothers and sisters. We were one of those families that always talked about politics but it just didn’t occur to me to become an MP,’ she explains.
But after completing a political science degree at Leeds University, Clare started work as a civil servant at the Home Office and it was there that she had the opportunity to ‘see how things worked’ and the idea of becoming an MP first emerged.
‘There was a Tory government at the time and it wasn’t until I saw how the Tory MPs went about things that I thought to myself, “I could do better than that.”
‘My main motivation was to change the world – to make things just and fair. I think everyone should have a fairer chance in life and I think we’ve made some progress but there’s a lot more to be done.’
Clare brings that same commitment to another area she has had personal experience of – being a carer. She believes passionately that more should be done to improve the lives of the UK’s six million carers, and enthusiastically accepted the invitation to become this year’s Carers Week parliamentary champion.
Having been a carer herself, Clare knows only too well the demands of caring for a sick or disabled partner, friend or relative. She became a carer when her husband, Alex Lyon, also an MP, suffered a complicated form of Alzheimer’s disease.
‘Being a carer is very important but I know it can also be very hard, and sometimes very sad’ she says. ‘For me, the most difficult thing was the sadness of it – to watch this enormously kind and loving person fall apart before my eyes.’
‘His illness worsened gradually. The hardest thing was facing up to the fact that it was going to get worse. I remember at one point having to take his car away from him because I was concerned about him driving and it was so hard because he loved that car.’
‘My family helped out but as time went on Alex didn’t really want other people around him except for me.’
As her husband’s condition deteriorated over several years, Clare became increasingly worried about his well-being and was forced to find a residential home that could care for him round-the-clock. Sadly he died in 1993.
‘I think the fact that I was working at the time kept me going,’ says Clare. ‘I can appreciate how very difficult it must be for people who care full-time. It would be easy for them to become depressed and then, when they’re feeling low, to fall ill.
These days Clare regularly sees carers at her constituency surgery in Birmingham Ladywood. ‘Sadly, I can’t help in every case but I certainly try to do what I can. Some of my constituents have disabled children and it really breaks your heart. Some aren’t getting the help they need from social services.’
‘I recently visited a school for deaf children in my constituency and was surprised to learn that reading ages are lower than they should be because of poor language development. I’ve written to the Schools Standards Minister, David Miliband about that.’
‘There’s no doubt that initiatives such as Carers Week have done a lot to help. There was a good deal less support for carers ten years ago than there is now. I’m not saying it’s perfect; there can never be enough support and we need to keep pushing Parliament for improvements, but we are making progress.’
Over the last few months Clare has been urging other MPs to support carers and Carers Week through a variety of initiatives, which will culminate in a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons.
‘We need to sing a bit more about the unsung heroes who care for other people. Adversity and tough times make us stronger people. Carers should feel extremely pleased and proud of themselves.’
Clare has been the MP for Birmingham Ladywood, where she was born and raised, for 20 years. After Labour’s election success in 1997 she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development until her resignation in 2003 following the Iraq war.
It was a decision that can’t have come easily. International development is an issue Clare feels passionately about and her six years as a Minister enabled her to experience her greatest sense of achievement to date.
‘I think I’m probably most proud of when I was at the Department for International Development,’ she says. ‘I believe it became the most effective department of its kind in the world. It was very rewarding getting the world to take development seriously and we were a leading player in that.’
‘Take Rwanda ten years ago. No one would help them but we stepped forward and enabled them to rebuild and fix the country themselves. They’ve come a long way since then.’
‘I also feel very proud of the 20 years I’ve been MP for Ladywood.’
Clare has been no stranger to controversy during her political career. She famously called for a ban on ‘Page 3’ pictures in newspapers during the 1980s and has publicly supported the legalisation of cannabis as well as opposing the Government’s stance on top-up fees.
She was even praised by the Plain English Campaign for the way her resignation letter from the Government was written.
‘I’m sad and upset about the things that have gone wrong with the Labour Government. For example I think the war on terror is a big mistake – it’s making al-Qaeda stronger, not weaker.’
‘I simply can’t defend things that I believe are wrong,’ she explains. ‘I receive loads of emails and phone calls for being too critical but I think people really want these discussions about politics.’
Through it all Clare remains positive about the future. Her final words will ring true for many carers: ‘I’ve had other low points in my life and you just get through them,’ she says.
