Ain’t that the truth! There was a TV talk show during the run up to the Iraq war. Clare Short was answering questions from a small invited studio audience of teens / young adults. I vividly recall a young Asian woman saying to Short (I’m paraphrasing)… “Myself and most of my friends simply don’t believe the government when it talks about WMD in Iraq. We think it’s just a smokescreen covering the fact that we’re going to war just because George Bush wants to”.

I’ll never forget Short’s response. She didn’t try to address the teenager’s perfectly valid concern in any way. She looked sharply at the young woman and told her “Don’t be so stupid!” Seriously.

All throughout the build-up to the invasion, she was one of the most supportive ministers (in public at least) of Tony Blair’s position. More than that, she was willing to denounce those who disagreed as “silly” or “stupid”, much in the same way as Blair insisted we were “mad”. Then — months later — she resigns and tries to paint herself as some kind of martyr. ‘Like so many others, I was deceived…’

Oh fuck off Clare. I seem to recall there were a couple of million of us on the streets of London who weren’t. We could tell they were lying just by watching them on the TV. How could anyone who was actually working alongside Alistair Campbell and his poisonous NuLabor spin machine, possibly have believed in the honesty of what was emerging from Downing Street?

Short was either being a devious liar helping an administration dupe the public into supporting an illegal war… or she was one of the thickest and most gullible people in the entire nation. Neither of which inspires a whole lot of confidence really.

Robin cook was lauded for his resigntion speech and yet he preesided over some arms dealing to some pretty dodgy people.