Angry Labour MPs leave 'disloyal' Short isolated

Published on Thursday 4 March 2004 00:00

CLARE Short was left isolated in the Labour Party yesterday as her fellow MPs lined up to denounce her at a meeting where they discussed what disciplinary action to take.

The Parliamentary Labour Party group - a private meeting held every Wednesday morning - yesterday turned into an extraordinary diatribe against the former international development secretary.

Hilary Armstrong, the Chief Whip, has now summoned Ms Short to a meeting to discuss her purporting to break the Official Secrets Act by claiming that British intelligence bugged Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general. MPs from the left and the right of the Labour Party yesterday vented their anger at Ms Short’s outbursts - accusing her of disloyalty to the party and playing into the hands of the Tories.

Lorna Fitzsimmons, the MP for Rochdale, said: "Clare was in the Cabinet that voted to go to war, she personally voted to send people to war, and now she is a woman on a mission [to depose Mr Blair]. And it is just not acceptable."

Ian McCartney, the Labour Party chairman, has argued against expelling Ms Short from the parliamentary party - arguing she would make herself a "martyr". She is more likely to be disciplined.