Renée Short (; 26 April 1919 – 18 January 2003) was a British

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politician who served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Wolverhampton North East.

Early life

Born in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

, she had a Jewish mother but was brought up by her Church of England grandparents. She was educated at

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County

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and Manchester University. She was a journalist. Active in the Labour and Co-operative Parties, she served as a councillor on

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

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1952–67 and Watford Rural District Council 1952–56.

Parliamentary career

Short contested

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ro ...

at the 1955 general election and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in the 1959 election. At the

1964 general election The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...

, she was elected to succeed John Baird as

for Wolverhampton North East. She retained her seat at six subsequent general elections until her retirement at the 1987 election. In the Conservative landslide at the 1983 general election, she had held on to her seat by just 214 votes, and after she stood down, her old seat was won by the Conservative candidate

Maureen Hicks Maureen Patricia Hicks (née Cutler; born 23 February 1948) was the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for Wolverhampton North East (UK Parliament constituency) ...

. She also served on the Labour National Executive Committee 1970–81 and 1983–88. Short was on the left-wing of the Labour Party and often clashed with her constituency neighbour Enoch Powell. She was an early advocate of abortion reform. She was for many years national president of the Campaign for Nursery Education, and of the Nursery Schools Association; and she was vice-president of the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign. She had hopes of being appointed to the government in 1974 but believed she had suffered by openly stating her ambition on the

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election results programme (she said "If

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's any sense, he'll know what to do").

Later life

Later in her career she received a regular credit as 'Parliamentary Adviser' to the Yorkshire Television sitcom ''

The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

''.

Family

She married, in 1940, Dr Andrew Short; they had two daughters. Her granddaughter is actress and singer

Charlotte Devaney Charlotte Devaney is a British DJ, producer, singer, dancer, and actress. Career In 2008, Devaney played transgender Bobbie in the British comedy movie '' How to Lose Friends & Alienate People''. Devaney's first release "Flip It" featuring Sno ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Short, Renee 1919 births 2003 deaths Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Jewish British politicians UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 Members of Hertfordshire County Council English people of Jewish descent Jewish women politicians People from Leamington Spa 20th-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Women councillors in England