So in tribute to a formidable and often unpredictable rebel - this is her story...

Clare Short was born in Birmingham, which perhaps gave the future international development secretary first hand experience of what it's like to grow up in the Third World.

She had no intention of standing for election until she worked as a private secretary to a Conservative home office minister, Mark Carlisle.

Clare smiling

She found many MPs decidedly "unimpressive" at their jobs and thought "I could do that". Which, ironically, is what many people think of her now.

No stranger to controversy, she accused defence minister Alan Clark of delivering a speech in parliament while drunk.

Presumably it was the same day he made a note in his diary about how attractive he found Margaret Thatcher.

In 1986, she introduced a bill to ban The Sun's page three girls and other similar newspaper images. The failure of the bill lead her to comment: "If you mention breasts, 50 Tory MPs all giggle and fall over".

Clare prepares for a meeting with John Prescott

She is to be commended for her refusal to shout this word randomly in parliamentary debates, even though it was clearly some form of kryptonite for Tories.

She clashed again with the tabloids when she successfully complained about The News Of The World's publication of photos of her aged 20 in a nightie. As did many people.

She angered her superiors by referring to the Millennium Dome as a "silly, temporary building". They are still waiting for the last laugh on that one.

Her days in government were numbered when she referred to the Prime Minister's stance on Iraq as 'reckless'.

It is thought he allowed her to stay out of confusion, thinking she had compared his performance to that of his favourite Bryan Adams album, Reckless.

Clare in happier times

But incensed at the lack of a UN role in the reconstruction of Iraq, Short u-turned on her original u-turn, thus alienating both those she opposes and those she supports. A bit like an inverse Tony Blair.

She is thought to be going on to play the role of Gollum in a touring production of The Two Towers, after wowing casting directors with her own sense of self-torture and confusion.