I have recently heard some ill-informed guff regarding Clare Short's view on the Iraq war, brought back to public attention by her recent evidence to the Chilcot enquiry. What I have found particularly hard to digest is the assertion amongst some friends that she somehow embodies the 'integrity' long lost to the bulk of the political classes.
Sorry to demur, but Short is a busted-flush, lapping up her last few rays of an Indian summer in the limelight. She lacked the courage to resign when she ought to have (like dear Robin Cook), instead weakly voting to GO to war. She has since proved herself so bitter-and-twisted and full of regret that she simply cannot be trusted in her public pronouncements. Simply put: she didn't make proper use of the influence she wielded at that time and her sincerity is therefore in question. I find it hard to forgive her feebleness in the face of Tony Blair's protestations.
Where was her integrity when it mattered?
[Fwiw, I was very much against the incursion into Iraq.]
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