BREAKING NEWS

SHORT BETRAYAL CLAIM

20-10-2006

Clare Short has been accused by a fellow Labour MP of a “complete betrayal” of the party after resigning the government whip.

Short, the Ladywood MP who quit the cabinet after disagreeing about the reconstruction of Iraq, was recently censured after calling for a hung parliament - effectively calling on voters to boot out her own parliamentary colleagues. She also said she was ashamed of the government.

Short survived an expulsion threat but has now decided to sit on the backbenches as an independent, prompting Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood to launch a fierce attack on her.

Mahmood said: “It's a complete betrayal of the Labour party. I feel a sense of personal betrayal, and I also think she's let down all the people who've worked so hard for her.

“She's taken the cream off the pie, and just left the crust. Over four elections I've backed her to the hilt, but she has no conscience about the party. She's earned a good living out of the party for 22 years but now she's walking away. People say that she's been principled, but what has she ever been principled on?”