Ann Clwyd: A Political Life

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

For more than thirty years, since she was elected the Member of Parliament for the former mining seat of Cynon Valley in South Wales, Ann Clwyd has been one of Labour's star performers.

A consummate constituency politician, she has consistently been led by her conscience to support a number of human rights causes and campaigns, often beyond these shores, and most notably in the middle east. After holding a number of shadow ministerial posts she rose to particular prominence when Tony Blair made her his Special Envoy on Human Rights in Iraq in the run-up to the war, an association that would later cause her to be viewed with some controversy from within her own party.

Hers is a life that has also encompassed tragedy. In 2012 she railed against the low nursing standards that had allowed staff at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, to treat her dying husband with coldness, resentment, indifference and contempt.

Her very public attempts to highlight what she saw as a 'normalisation of cruelty' within the NHS led to opprobrium from some on her own benches, for whom the NHS is above criticism, but led to an impressed David Cameron appointing her to advise on complaint handling within the service. Clwyd's has been a full and meaningful political life and she continues to fight for what she believes in.

Reviews

"Ann is a long-standing and committed humanitarian, and one of the most compassionate and respected public servants ever to grace the House of Commons. Her tireless support of equal rights, both at home and abroad, is revealed in this lucid account of an outstanding parliamentarian and of a campaigner resolute in her values." - Tony Blair; "This dogged campaigner for the world's oppressed has real courage and stamina." - Matthew Parris; "Kurds never forget those who helped them in times of hardship and Ann Clwyd is top of that list. When we were under attack from Saddam Hussein, she brought our plight to the world's attention. She was even with us at Sulaimanyah when it was bombarded. She shared our pain and we keep her in our heart." - Jalal Talabani, former President of Iraq

Author Bio

Ann Clwyd has been the Labour Member of Parliament for Cynon Valley since 1984. She is a long-standing human rights activist and has campaigned for international and domestic issues. In the UK she introduced a Bill on the regulation of cosmetic surgery, and abroad she acted as Special Envoy on Human Rights in Iraq. In 2003, she received the Channel 4 Political Award for Campaigning Politician of the Year. She lives in Wales.