Editing Clare Short (section)

===Member of Parliament===
[[File:"After Dark", 2 February 1991, "Counting the Cost of a Free Press".jpg|300px|left|thumb|Appearing on television discussion ''[[After Dark (TV programme)|After Dark]]'' "Counting the Cost of a Free Press" in 1991]]
At the start of her career, she was firmly on the left-wing of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. She gained some notoriety shortly after her election in 1983 when she implied the government's Employment minister [[Alan Clark]] was drunk at the [[despatch box]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.clareshort.org/interviews/something-profound-has-been-lost|title=Something profound has been lost. {{!}} Clare Short|website=www.clareshort.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-08-11|date=6 February 2010}}</ref> Clark's colleagues on the government benches in turn accused Short of using unparliamentary language and the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Deputy Speaker]], [[Ernest Armstrong (British politician)|Ernest Armstrong]], asked her to withdraw her accusation.<ref>{{cite hansard | url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1983/jul/20/sex-discrimination#S6CV0046P0_19830720_HOC_437 | house=[[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] |title=Sex Discrimination| date=20 July 1983 | column_start=483 | column_end=484 }}</ref> Clark later admitted in his diaries that Short had been correct in her assessment.

In 1986, Short introduced a Private Members Bill in the House of Commons which proposed banning ''[[Page 3]]'' photographs of topless models featured in ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' and other British [[Tabloid journalism|tabloid]] newspapers.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.clareshort.org/essays/introduction-to-dear-clare|title=Introduction to Dear Clare {{!}} Clare Short|website=www.clareshort.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-08-11|date=12 April 1991}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1988/apr/13/indecent-displays-newspapers|title=Indecent Displays (Newspapers)  |website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=13 April 1988|access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref> In order to ensure her motion would be tabled, she slept in Parliament overnight. For this Private Members Bill, she was nicknamed by The Sun "killjoy Clare" and "Crazy Clare."<ref>'Dear Clare..This is What Women Feel About Page 3, Clare Short, Radius Publishing (1991).</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite book|title=Women of Westminster : the MPs who changed politics|last=Reeves|first= Rachel|isbn=978-1-78831-677-4|location=London|oclc=1084655208|date = 7 March 2019}}</ref> One paper bought and published alleged photographs of Short in her nightwear from her ex-husband. She stated they were pictures of somebody else's body with her face superimposed.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m88t6 Clare Short, Meeting Myself Coming Back], [[BBC Four]], 29–31 August 2009.</ref> The Sun also sent a busload of Page 3 models to her home where she lived with her elderly mother.<ref name="auto2"/> Clare gave a definitive account of her attitude towards tabloid nudity and the negative role that pornography plays more generally in society in her introduction to the book ''Dear Clare'' (1991), which presents a selection of the many letters of support she received from women in response to her campaign.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite book|title=Dear Clare - this is what women feel about page 3|last=Clare.|first=Short|date=1991|publisher=Hutchinson Radius|others=Tunks, Kiri., Hutchinson, Diane.|isbn=0091749158|location=London|oclc=22858719}}</ref>

She supported [[John Prescott]] in the [[1988 Labour Party deputy leadership election|Labour Party deputy leadership election in 1988]] (against [[Eric Heffer]] and the incumbent [[Roy Hattersley]]), leaving the [[Socialist Campaign Group]], along with [[Margaret Beckett]], as a result of [[Tony Benn]]'s decision to challenge [[Neil Kinnock]] for the party leadership. She supported [[Margaret Beckett]] for the [[1994 Labour Party leadership election|Labour leadership in 1994]] against [[Tony Blair]] and [[John Prescott]]. She also called for the withdrawal of British troops from [[Northern Ireland]].

In 1989 she raised the issue of abuse of police procedure and fabrication of evidence at the [[West Midlands Serious Crime Squad]], relaying concerns of Birmingham solicitors that many miscarriages of justice had taken place.<ref>{{citation |last1=Hansard|title=West Midlands Serious Crime Squad, HC Debate |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1989/jan/25/west-midlands-serious-crime-squad |website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |pages=1155–60|volume=145 |date=January 1989a}}</ref>

She rose through the ranks of the Labour [[Front Bench]], despite twice resigning from it – over the [[Prevention of Terrorism Act (Northern Ireland)|Prevention of Terrorism Act]] in 1988, and over the [[Gulf War]] in 1990. She became [[Shadow Minister for Women]] (1993–1995), [[Shadow Transport Secretary]] (1995–1996) and Opposition Spokesperson for Overseas Development (1996–1997).<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.clareshort.org/biography|title=Biography {{!}} Clare Short|website=www.clareshort.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-08-11}}</ref> Clare was also a member of Labour's [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party|National Executive Committee]] (NEC) from 1988 to 1997 and Chair of the NEC's Women's Committee (1993–1996).<ref name="auto1"/> At the 1995 Labour Party conference, Short denounced [[Liz Davies]] as "unsuitable" after Davies had been selected as a Parliamentary candidate by a constituency Labour Party in Leeds North-East. This was seen as an attempt to win the favour of the right-wing of the party, especially then-leader [[Tony Blair]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bjr.org.uk/data/2000/no3_seddon.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719223445/http://www.bjr.org.uk/data/2000/no3_seddon.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 July 2012 |title=British Journalism Review Vol. 11, No. 3, 2000 – The political struggle around Orwell's stapler |publisher=Bjr.org.uk |access-date=7 October 2013 }}</ref> However, in 1996, Short was moved to the Overseas Development portfolio, a move which she saw as a demotion.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071212202213/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=%2Farts%2F2004%2F11%2F14%2Fbosho14.xml&sSheet=%2Farts%2F2004%2F11%2F14%2Fbomain.html A peculiar sort of sacrifice] from ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]''.</ref> Short also called for the [[legalisation of cannabis]].