Oliver Kamm has an excellent post up about Clare Short. He evidently holds her in higher regard than I do, but I think his broad premise is correct:

But for all my scepticism about Clare Short's half-baked criticisms of New Labour, I'm surprised to see an unsourced report in a tabloid newspaper today associating her with George Galloway:

LABOUR turncoat Clare Short is tipped to join the anti-war Respect party - alongside its only MP, George Galloway.

Short, 60, quit the Cabinet over No.10's Iraq policy - and switching parties would be a further protest if she's expelled from the party altogether.

But one minister said: "Clare and George deserve each other. What they have in common is that neither are [sic] of any importance whatsoever."

I do not believe Clare Short deserves Galloway. Galloway has been plausibly described as "a man who is not just a pimp for fascism but one of its prostitutes as well". Whatever else you can say about Clare Short, she was an effective minister in a government that outside the most senior posts has been short on talent. As international development secretary she did tangible good both in raising the profile of the post and in being prepared to say unpopular things in the cause of third world development. She rightly stressed the importance of trade, and infuriated anti-globalisation campaigners by stating:

Child labour is a development problem, not a trade problem. It exists in all poor countries. Only five per cent of child labourers worldwide work in the export sector. Trade sanctions against countries where child labour is prevalent would simply harm the poorest countries and force children into still worse forms of employment.

This is the event at which he will be opposing Clare Short. I assume Neil Clark wasn't available.