Clare Short

Clare Short was Secretary of State for International Development from 1997 to May 2003. DFID was a new Ministry created after the 1997 general election to promote policies for sustainable development and the elimination of poverty.

Of Irish ancestry, Ms Short was born in Birmingham on 15 February 1946. She was educated at St Paul's Grammar School, Birmingham, and at the Universities of Keele and Leeds. She graduated as Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Political Science.

She previously worked as a Civil Servant at the Home Office, as a Director of Youthaid and the Unemployment Unit and as a Director of AFFOR, a community based organisation promoting racial equality in Birmingham. She entered the House of Commons in 1983 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Ladywood, which she has held since then, and is the area where she was born and grew up.

From 1996 until the 1997 General Election she was Opposition spokesperson on Overseas Development. She was Shadow Minister for Women from 1993 to 1995 and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport from 1995 to 1996. She has been Opposition spokesperson on Environment Protection, Social Security and Employment.

A member of the Home Affairs Select Committee from 1983-85, she was Chair of the All-Party Group on Race Relations from 1985-1986, member of Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1988-1997 and Chair of the NEC Women's Committee from 1993-1996.

In 2003, Ms Short resigned from the Government over the Iraq war and in 2006, she resigned the Labour whip. She now sits as an Independent.

Since 2006, Ms Short has been a member of the Policy Advisory Board of Cities Alliance, which is an alliance of the World Bank, UN –HABITAT, local government and development partners committed to meeting the UN target to develop cities without slums.

She is a member of the Advisory Committee of International Lawyers for Africa and also a member of the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament. She Chairs the International Advisory Board of the Cranfield Masters in Security Sector Management Programme and is Chair of a Working Group on Mining in the Philippines. She is also Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Trafficking of Women and Children.

In addition, Clare Short is a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, a member of the Advisory Board of Res Publica, a member of the Borad of Trustees of Africa Humanitarian Action, a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, an Associate of the Oxford Research Group and a Patron of Everyman Project and BID Services with Deaf People.

In November 2004, Ms Short’s book “An Honourable Deception? New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power” was published as an attempt to explain why Tony Blair did what he did on Iraq so that lessons could be learned and things put right. In 2005, it was awarded Political Book of the Year by Channel 4.

Widowed with one son, she lists swimming and her family as her main leisure pursuits.

Awards Won by Clare Short

Order of the Volta Companion

Conferred by the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor in July 2008 in recognition of Clare Short’s outstanding virtues and in appreciation of her services to the country of Ghana in the field of Development Partnership

Channel 4 Political Book of the Year

Awarded in 2005 for Clare Short's book “An Honourable Deception? New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power”

Wilberforce Medal

Presented by the Wilberforce Lecture Trust on 19 October 2004 for Clare Short’s enduring work furthering International Development, Human Rights and Democracy

Honorary Degree from Bradford University

Clare Short received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Bradford University in July 2004 in recognition of her contribution to the field of International Development

Honorary Fellowship of UNICEF

Awarded to Clare Short in July 2003 in recognition of her exceptional support for UNICEF’s work for children worldwide

Honorary Degree from Newman College of Higher Education

Clare Short received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Newman College of Higher Education, Birmingham in 2003 in recognition of her work for universal primary education

Honorary Patronage of University Philosophical Society, St Trinity College

Clare has been awarded Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society of St Trinity College, Dublin

Channel 4 Political Award

Awarded in the category of Politician’s Politician of the Year, 2002

Spectator/Highland Park Award

Awarded in the category of Campaigning MP of the Year, 1992