Editing Clare Short (section)

==Early and personal life==
Short was born in [[Birmingham]] in 1946 to [[Irish Catholic]] parents from [[County Armagh]], Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/1888138.stm |title=Clare Short: Divided she stands |work=BBC News  |date=22 March 2002 |access-date=23 July 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Cousins">[https://web.archive.org/web/20150924095150/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970630/ai_n14110463 "Family affair spanning the Irish Sea"], by Kate Watson-Smyth, ''[[The Independent]]'', 30 June 1997, hosted on [[FindArticles.com]] {{Dead link|date=July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://whatenglandmeanstome.co.uk/?p=114 |title=John J. Ray &#124; What England Means to Me |publisher=Whatenglandmeanstome.co.uk |access-date=7 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003225034/http://whatenglandmeanstome.co.uk/?p=114 |archive-date=3 October 2011 |df=dmy }}</ref> She attended [[St Paul's School for Girls, Birmingham|St Paul's School for Girls in Birmingham]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biography {{!}} Clare Short|url=https://www.clareshort.org/biography|access-date=2022-01-19|website=www.clareshort.org}}</ref>

She was later supportive of peaceful [[Sinn Féin]] initiatives, but never a supporter of [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] violence, some of the worst of which was inflicted in a 1974 [[Birmingham pub bombings|bombing]] of her home city of Birmingham.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clareshort.org/interviews/this-is-my-truth-interview-with-laurie-taylor|title=This is my truth: interview with Laurie Taylor. {{!}} Clare Short|website=www.clareshort.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-08-11|date=31 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clareshort.org/articles/irish-terrorism-peace|title=Irish terrorism and Irish peace. {{!}} Clare Short|website=www.clareshort.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-08-11|date=November 2007}}</ref>

Completing her degree in [[political science]] at the [[University of Leeds]], she became a civil servant working for the [[Home Office]]. Working as Private Secretary to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] minister [[Mark Carlisle]] gave her the idea that she "could do better" than many of the MPs she dealt with, and at the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]] she was elected as MP for the [[Birmingham Ladywood]] constituency, the area where she had grown up.

Short is a paternal cousin of Canadian actor [[Martin Short]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/20/martin-short-my-family-values|title=Martin Short: My family values|last=McGrath|first=Nick|date=2012-10-19|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-08-11}}</ref>