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| The Right Honourable Jack Straw MP | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 11 May 2010 – 7 October 2010 | |
| Leader | Harriet Harman |
| Preceded by | William Hague (Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet) |
| Succeeded by | Harriet Harman |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Shadow Lord Chancellor | |
| In office 11 May 2010 – 7 October 2010 | |
| Leader | Harriet Harman Ed Miliband |
| Preceded by | Dominic Grieve |
| Succeeded by | Sadiq Khan |
| Secretary of State for Justice Lord Chancellor | |
| In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | The Lord Falconer of Thoroton |
| Succeeded by | Kenneth Clarke |
| Leader of the House of Commons Lord Privy Seal | |
| In office 5 May 2006 – 27 June 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Geoff Hoon |
| Succeeded by | Harriet Harman |
| Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | |
| In office 8 June 2001 – 5 May 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Robin Cook |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Beckett |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 2 May 1997 – 8 June 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Michael Howard |
| Succeeded by | David Blunkett |
| Shadow Home Secretary | |
| In office 20 October 1994 – 2 May 1997 | |
| Leader | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Tony Blair |
| Succeeded by | Michael Howard |
| Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment | |
| In office 24 July 1992 – 20 October 1994 | |
| Leader | John Smith |
| Preceded by | Bryan Gould |
| Succeeded by | Frank Dobson |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science | |
| In office 13 July 1987 – 18 July 1992 | |
| Leader | Neil Kinnock |
| Preceded by | Giles Radice |
| Succeeded by | Ann Taylor (Education) |
| Member of Parliament for Blackburn | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 3 May 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Barbara Castle |
| Majority | 9,856 (21.7%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Whitaker Straw (1946-08-03) 3 August 1946 (age 78) Buckhurst Hill, Essex, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Anthea Weston (1968–1977) Alice Perkins (1978–present) |
| Children | Daughter (deceased), son, daughter |
| Alma mater | University of Leeds Inns of Court |
John Whitaker "Jack" Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn since 1979. He served as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001, Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 and Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons from 2006 to 2007 under Tony Blair. From 2007 to 2010 he was the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and the Secretary of State for Justice, appointed as part of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. Straw is one of only three people to have served in Cabinet continuously from 1997 to 2010 (the others being Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling).
When the Labour Party lost power in May 2010, he briefly became the Shadow Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, but stood down from the frontbench after the Labour Party elected a new Shadow Cabinet.
Early life
Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England. One of his maternal great-grandparents was a Jewish German immigrant. Straw was brought up at Loughton, Essex by his mother, Joan Sylvia Gilbey on a council estate after his father Walter Arthur Whitaker Straw, an insurance salesman, left the family and condemned them to poverty. Walter Straw had been sent to prison in 1939 for being a conscientious objector.
He was educated at Staples Road School, Loughton, and then boarded at Brentwood School, at that time a direct grant grammar school with largely LEA supported pupils, (where he was already expressing political ambitions and took the name "Jack", allegedly after the 14th century peasant leader Jack Straw—although "Jack" is a common diminutive of "John") and read law at the University of Leeds. While he was at Brentwood he opted out of the compulsory CCF (combined cadet force) on conscientious grounds.
Straw was elected chair of the Leeds University Labour Society at the 1966 Annual General Meeting, when the Society changed its name to Leeds University Socialist Society and withdrew its support from the Labour Party (a separate Labour Club was later formed by supporters of the Labour Party in Leeds University Union). Straw was incorrectly alleged by the Foreign Office to have disrupted a student trip to Chile to build a youth centre and was branded a "troublemaker acting with malice aforethought" by the Foreign Office. Straw was then elected president of Leeds University Union with the support of the Broad Left, a coalition including Liberal, Socialist (formerly Labour, see above) and the Communist Societies. The Leeds University Union Council recently reinstated Jack Straw's life membership of the union, as a previous motion had removed his life membership and led to the removal of his name from the Presidents’ Board owing to disagreement with his involvement in anti-terror legislation. At the National Union of Students conference at the end of 1967 he and David Adelstein, the Radicals leader from the London School of Economics, were defeated in their quest for officership in the NUS. That was repeated in April 1968 when Straw stood for NUS President and was defeated by Trevor Fisk. In 1969 he succeeded in being elected President of the increasingly radical National Union of Students, having led the campaign to remove the "no politics" clause from the NUS constitution.
He qualified as a barrister at Inns of Court School of Law, practising criminal law from 1972 to 1974.
From 1971 to 1974 Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974. Straw contested Tonbridge and Malling constituency in Kent in the February 1974 general election.
Straw served as political adviser to Barbara Castle at the Department of Social Security from 1974 to 1976, and as adviser to Peter Shore at the Department for the Environment from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1979, Straw worked as a researcher for the Granada TV series, World in Action.
Member of Parliament
Straw was selected to stand for Parliament in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1977, after Barbara Castle (the incumbent) decided not to seek re-election. He won the seat in 1979 and has held it since, also becoming honorary president of Blackburn Rovers. In the 1980s, he was an opposition spokesman on Treasury and economic affairs from 1980 to 1983, housing and local government from 1983 until promotion to the Shadow Cabinet in 1987.
Shadow Cabinet
Straw's first Shadow Cabinet post was as Education spokesman from 1987. In this role, he called on Local Education Authorities to give private Muslim and Orthodox Jewish schools the right to opt out of the state system and still receive public funds. He also stated that the schools should be free to enter the state system. His comments came at a time of great controversy regarding the funding of Muslim schools. Straw argued that the controversy arose out of ignorance and stereotyping about women's role in Islam, pointing out that Muslim women acquired property rights centuries before European women. Straw played a significant role in articulating the Labour Party's interest in and sensitivity to the issue.
Straw briefly served as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment under John Smith from 1992 to 1994, speaking on matters concerning local government. When Tony Blair became leader after Smith's death, he chose Straw to succeed him as Shadow Home Secretary. Like Blair, Straw believed Labour's electoral chances had been damaged in the past by the party appearing to be "soft on crime" and he developed a reputation as being even more authoritarian than the Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard. Straw garnered particular attention for comments condemning "aggressive beggars, winos and squeegee merchants" and calling for a curfew on children.
Home Secretary
Appointed as Home Secretary after the 1997 general election, he brought forward the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, increased police powers against terrorism and proposed to remove the right to trial by jury in certain cases. These policies won praise from Margaret Thatcher who once declared "I would trust Jack Straw's judgement. He is a very fair man." They were deemed excessively authoritarian by his former students' union, which in 2000 banned him from the building—a policy which lapsed in 2003. However, he also incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, finalising the de jure abolition of the death penalty.
On 31 July 1997, Straw ordered a public inquiry, to be conducted by Sir William Macpherson and officially titled "The Inquiry into the Matters Arising from the Death of Stephen Lawrence". Its report, produced in February 1999, estimated that it had taken "more than 100,000 pages of reports, statements, and other written or printed documents" and concluded that the original Metropolitan Police Service investigation had been incompetent and that officers had committed fundamental errors, including: failing to give first aid when they reached the scene; failing to follow obvious leads during their investigation; and failing to arrest suspects. The report found that there had been a failure of leadership by senior MPS officers and that recommendations of the 1981 Scarman Report, compiled following race-related riots in Brixton and Toxteth, had been ignored and concluded that the force was "institutionally racist". It also recommended that the double jeopardy rule should be abrogated in murder cases to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence; this became law in 2005. Straw commented in 2012 that ordering the inquiry was "the single most important decision I made as Home Secretary".
As Home Secretary, Straw was also involved in changing the electoral system for the European Parliament elections from plurality to proportional representation. In doing so, he advocated the use of d'Hondt formula as being the one that produces the most proportional outcomes. The d'Hondt formular, however, is less proportional to the Sainte-Laguë formula which was proposed by the Liberal Democrats. Straw later apologised to the House of Commons for his misleading comments, but the d'Hondt formula stayed in place.
In March 2000, Jack Straw was responsible for allowing General Augusto Pinochet to return to Chile. There were requests from several countries for Pinochet to be extradited and face trial for crimes against humanity. Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain while appealing the legal authority of the Spanish and British courts to try him, but Straw eventually ordered his release on medical grounds before a trial could begin, and Pinochet returned to Chile.
Also in 2000, Straw turned down an asylum request from a man fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime, stating "we have faith in the integrity of the Iraqi judicial process and that you should have no concerns if you haven’t done anything wrong."
He was the last Home Secretary to have all the traditional powers of that office, as following the 2001 general election, the government began transferring all non-law and order responsibilities to other departments.
Foreign Secretary
He was instead appointed Foreign Secretary in 2001 to succeed Robin Cook. Within months, Straw was confronted by the 11 September attacks in the United States. He was initially seen as taking a back seat to Tony Blair in the UK Government's prosecution of the "war against terrorism".
In 2003 the governments of the USA and UK agreed a new Extradition Treaty between them, intended to speed up extradition of terrorist suspects. The provisions of the treaty were enacted in the Extradition Act 2003. The treaty later attracted controversy with opponents alleging it to be one-sided: a British request to the USA needed to provide a prima facie case against a suspect while a US request to Britain needed only to provide reasonable suspicion for an arrest. There have been a series of causes célèbres involving the treaty, including the NatWest Three who later pleaded guilty to fraud against the US parent company of their employers, and Gary McKinnon who admitted hacking US defence computers. An inquiry into extradition arrangements by retired Judge Sir Scott Baker reported in September 2011 that the treaty was not unbalanced and "there is no practical difference between the information submitted to and from the United States".
In a letter to The Independent in 2004, he claimed that Trotskyists "can usually now be found in the City, appearing on quiz shows or ranting in certain national newspapers," and recommended "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder by Vladimir Lenin.
In the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt, Jack Straw was personally informed months in advance of the plans for the takeover attempt and failed to accomplish the duty under international law of alerting the country's government. The involvement of British oil companies in the funding of the coup d'état, and the changing of British citizens evacuation plans for Equatorial Guinea before the attempt, posed serious challenges for the alleged ignorance of the situation. Later on, British officials and Jack Straw were forced to apologise to The Observer after categorically denying they had prior knowledge of the coup plot.
In the run up to the 2005 general election Straw faced a potential backlash from his Muslim constituents over the Iraq War – the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPAC) attempted to capitalise on anti-war sentiment with 'operation Muslim vote' in Blackburn. In addition, Craig Murray, who had been pushed out of his job as ambassador to Uzbekistan, stood against his former boss (Straw was head of the FCO) on a platform opposing the use of information gathered under torture in the "War on Terror". Straw's vote fell by 20% compared to the previous general election in 2001 (21,808 to 17,562) although the multiplicity of anti-Straw candidates makes it difficult to discern whether this was a particularly poor result for Straw and Labour. The swing to the second placed Conservatives was less than 2%, much lower than the national average. In any event, Straw was re-elected, and following his victory called MPAC an 'egregious group', and criticised their tactics during the election. Straw enjoys a reputation for involved local campaigning in his constituency despite his cabinet post, often spending many hours in the run up to elections literally standing on a soapbox in a high street area, taking questions from the crowd and responding with a microphone.
At the 2005 Labour Conference, the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was heckled by Walter Wolfgang, a German Jew who had suffered persecution under the Nazis, and a prominent Labour Party member. At a point when Straw claimed his support for the invasion of Iraq was solely for the purpose of supporting the Iraqi government, 82-year-old Wolfgang was heard to shout "Nonsense", and was forcibly removed from the auditorium by several bouncers. The incident gained considerable publicity, with party chairman Ian McCartney initially supporting the right to remove hecklers by force. McCartney, PM Tony Blair and other senior Labour members later issued apologies; Wolfgang was later elected to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party.
On 13 October 2005 Straw took questions from a public panel of (mostly anti-war) individuals in a BBC Newsnight television special on the subject of Iraq, addressing widespread public concerns about the exit strategy for British troops, the Iraqi insurgency and, inevitably, the moral legitimacy of the war. On several occasions Straw reiterated his position that the decision to invade was in his opinion the right thing to do, but said he did not 'know' for certain that this was the case. He said he understood why public opinion on several matters might differ from his own—a Newsnight/ICM poll showed over 70% of respondents believed the war in Iraq to have increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks in Britain, but Straw said he could not agree based on the information presented to him.
In February 2006, Straw attracted publicity after he condemned the publication of cartoons picturing Mohammed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and in April 2006, reports of secret White House plans to target Iranian nuclear installations with bunker busting nuclear bombs was described by Jack Straw as "completely nuts".
In August 2006, it was claimed by William Rees-Mogg in The Times that there was evidence that Straw was removed from this post upon the request of the Bush administration, possibly owing to his expressed opposition to bombing Iran. This would be ironic, as Richard Ingrams in The Independent wondered whether Straw's predecessor as Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, was also removed at Bush's request, allowing Straw to become Foreign Secretary in the first place. It has also been alleged that another factor in Straw's dismissal was the large number of Muslims amongst his Blackburn constituents, supposedly considered a cause for concern by the US. Some Iranian dissidents mocked Straw as "Ayatollah Straw" after his frequent visits to Tehran in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks.
Straw gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry on 21 January 2010, making him the second member of Tony Blair's cabinet to do so. He told the inquiry that the decision to go to war in Iraq had "haunted him" and that it was the "most difficult decision" of his life. He also said that he could have stopped the invasion, had he wanted to.
Rendition and torture allegations
Despite repeated denials about his complicity in extraordinary rendition—he once dismissed the suggestion of UK involvement in the practice as a "conspiracy theory"—Straw has been dogged for years over his alleged leading role in it, most recently facing scrutiny over the case of Abdel Hakim Belhadj.
Leader of the House of Commons
After the Labour Party suffered major defeats in local elections on 4 May 2006, losing 317 seats in balloting for 176 councils, Tony Blair acted the following day with a major reshuffle of his ministers during which he moved Straw from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. Straw had apparently requested a break from high ministerial office after serving in two of the four great departments of state for nearly ten years. Straw's close relationship with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was said to have 'infuriated' Number 10, with particular reference to her visit to Straw's Blackburn constituency which caused significant organisational difficulties. It is believed that Straw's public opposition to potential military actions in Iran during his tenure as Foreign Secretary was one of the main reasons behind his demotion. In an interview in 2009, Straw said: "Clearly there were forces in the U.S. system that disagreed with my views on the Middle East and there were differences with Tony Blair's Middle East policy, too." To lessen the apparent demotion, Blair gave Straw responsibility for House of Lords reform and party funding, issues which had been part of the portfolio of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, Straw was given the chairmanship of the Constitutional Affairs cabinet committee where he was responsible for attempting to force through a flat-fee charge for Freedom of Information requests.
On 25 March 2007, Straw announced he was to run Gordon Brown's campaign for the Labour leadership. This was the first official confirmation the Chancellor would stand.
2006 debate over veils
Main article: British debate over veilsIn October 2006 Straw attracted controversy by suggesting to a local newspaper, The Lancashire Evening Telegraph (now The Lancashire Telegraph), that Muslim women who wear veils that cover their faces (the niqab) can inhibit inter-community relations, though he denied the issue was raised for political gain, stating that he had raised it in private circles in the past and it had never progressed beyond discussions. Although he did not support a law banning a woman's right to choose to wear the veil, he would like them to abandon it altogether. Asked whether he would prefer veils to be abolished completely, Straw said: "Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather." He said that he had asked women visiting his constituency surgeries to consider uncovering their noses and mouths in order to allow better communication. He claimed that no women had ever chosen to wear a full-veil after this request. However, given that he is known to suffer from tinnitus (which compromises the ability to hear), it is possible that he requested the veil to be removed so that he could lip-read the woman.
Straw's comments kicked off a wide-ranging and sometimes harshly worded debate within British politics and the media; Straw was supported by some establishment figures and castigated by others, including Muslim groups. There is an ongoing debate within the Muslim community whether the Qur'an and hadith (traditions of Muhammad) require the use of the full face veil. Jack Straw apologised for these comments regarding the veil on 26 April 2010 at a private hustings organised by Engage in the build up to the United Kingdom General Election, 2010.
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Straw was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice on the first full day of Gordon Brown's ministry, 28 June 2007. He was the first Lord Chancellor since the sixteenth century to serve in the role whilst a member of the House of Commons. His appointment meant that he continued to be a major figure in the Labour Government. Only Straw, Brown and Alistair Darling served in the cabinet continuously during Labour's 13 year administration from 1997 to 2010.
In February 2009, Straw used his authority as Justice Secretary to veto publication of government documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act: in particular, those pertaining to early government meetings concerning the (forthcoming) Iraq War.
Straw represented the government on a controversial edition of Question Time on 22 October 2009, against British National Party leader Nick Griffin on his first ever appearance.In order to rebuild his racist image fostered by his views on Muslims and Pakistan men whom straw had claimed were targeting white British women for sex by giving Griffin a chance to be more right wing than him, this worked, as Griffin failed to attack straw on his actual speeches which of course Griffin agrees with of at least does not disagree with. Griffin's first comment was to attack Straw's father's wartime record, to general disdain. As Griffin claimed that European laws prevented him from explaining his stance on holocaust denial Straw later offered his personal assurance as Justice Secretary, which Griffin declined.
Alleged ambitions for premiership
When asked during an interview in February 2009 about becoming Prime Minister, Straw said: "If someone came and said "Sign on the dotted line", yes, I'd sign. But if you ask me have I yearned for it? No." When pressed further he responded: "I can honestly say I have no ambitions in that area." The Sun reported this with the headline: 'Straw: I'm ready for PM's job'.
Expenses claims
Main article: List of expenses claims in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandalTwo months after learning that MP's expenses were to be made public, Straw wrote to the fees office to confirm that he had over-claimed on the Council Tax for his constituency home. He attributed this to an oversight - he had been entitled to a 'non-occupancy' discount of 50% for four consecutive years, but had continued to claim expenses for the full rate of Council Tax. Included with the letter was a cheque for the amount he believed he had overcharged, which itself turned out to have been miscalculated, leading Straw to send a further cheque with a note saying "accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit".
Retirement from front-bench politics
In August 2010, Straw announced his plans to quit his role as Shadow Justice Secretary and move to the backbenches, citing the need for a ‘fresh start’ for the Labour Party under a new leader.
In December 2010, ahead of the UK Alternative Vote Referendum 2011, Straw was a signatory to a letter to the Guardian arguing in favour of the alternative vote.
In January 2011, Straw provoked controversy with comments made on Newsnight about Pakistani men. He said "there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men ... who target vulnerable young white girls." His comments came after two men of Pakistani origin were convicted of rape in Derby.
In April 2011, Straw was appointed as a consultant to E. D. & F. Man Holdings Ltd., a British company based in London specialising in the production and trading of commodities including sugar, molasses, animal feed, tropical oils, biofuels, coffee and financial services. Commenting on his appointment to ED&F Man on a salary of £30,000 per annum, Straw said, "There are 168 hours in the week, and I will work in Blackburn for a least 60 and maybe sleep for 50. Providing there’s no conflict, I have long taken the view that I am not against people doing other things. I had two jobs as a minister. I think it’s really important that politicians are involved with the outside world.”.
In late 2011, Straw was also been appointed to the role of visiting professor to University College London School of Public Policy. He later argued for the abolition of the European Parliament.
Personal life
Straw's first marriage, in 1968, to teacher Anthea Weston ended in divorce in 1977. They had a daughter, Rachel, born on 24 February 1976, who died after five days because of a heart defect.
On 10 November 1978 he married Alice Perkins, a senior civil servant. In 2006 Straw's wife joined the board of the country's largest airports operator BAA, shortly before it was taken over by the Spanish firm Ferrovial. They have two adult children, William and Charlotte.
He supports his local football club Blackburn Rovers, and was made an Honorary Vice President of Blackburn Rovers in 1998 by Jack Walker. Straw has tinnitus.
Bibliography
Author or co-author
- Implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998: Minutes of Evidence, Wednesday 14 March 2001 (2001) ISBN 0-10-442701-9
- Making Prisons Work: Prison Reform Trust Annual Lecture (1998) ISBN 0-946209-44-8
- Future of Policing and Criminal Justice (Institute of Police & Criminological Studies Occasional Paper S.) (1996) ISBN 1-86137-087-3
- Policy and Ideology (1993) ISBN 0-9521163-0-8
Reports
- Reform of the Race Relations Act 1976: Proposals for Change Submitted by the Commission for Racial Equality to the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department, on 30 April 1998 (1998) ISBN 1-85442-210-3
Footnotes
- http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/how-jewish-is/how-jewish-jack-straw
- ^ Who's Who 2008, A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007
- General Register Office Birth Index 1946 Q3 Epping 5a 178
- Martin Delgado "My father's spell in jail, by Jack Straw (Secretary of State for Justice)",Daily Mail, 16 May 2009
- Sanders, Mark (30 July 2006). "Straw comments reflect Cabinet unease". BBC News. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- "Leeds University Union Union Council – November Referendum Meeting" (PDF).
- Student Power by Sir Patrick Wall, MC, MP., Conservative Monday Club, London, 1969, p.8.
- "Straw sets agenda for reclaiming the streets". The Independent. 5 September 1995. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
- "Straw on trial over jury reform". BBC News. 19 November 1999. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- Cover letter upon completion of inquiry
- Report, ch.2, para 2.9
- "Sir William Macpherson's Inquiry into the Matters Arising from the Death of Stephen Lawrence". Official Documents Archive. 24 February 1999. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
(see also summary: "Lawrence: Key recommendations". BBC News. 24 March 1999. Retrieved 5 January 2012.) - "Justice at last for Stephen Lawrence". The Times. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
- McLean, Iain and Johnston, Ron (2009) 'When is proportional not proportional? Great Britain's 2009 elections to the European Parliament', Representation, 45: 351.
- Chomsky, Noam (21 January 2006). "Iconoclast and Radical Who Takes the Long View – Noam Chomsky interviewed by Denis Staunton". The Irish Times. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- Binyon, Michael (28 June 2006). "Onesided treaty was meant to handle terrorist suspects". The Times. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- "A Review of the United Kingdom's Extradition Arrangements". Home Office. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
- "Not a Trot". The Independent. London. 16 November 2004. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- Barnett, Antony (28 November 2004). "How much did Straw know and when did he know it?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 August 2007.
- Barnett, Antony (28 November 2004). "Revealed: how Britain was told full coup plan". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 August 2007.
- "Equatorial Guinea". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 22 August 2007.
- http://labourlist.org/2010/05/live-from-jack-straws-soapbox/
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4293502.stm
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4291388.stm
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5243220.stm
- "U.S.: Muhammad Cartoon 'Offensive'". CBS news. 3 February 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
- Rees-Mogg, William (7 August 2006). "How the US fired Jack Straw". The Times. London. Retrieved 14 August 2006.
- "Richard Ingrams's Week: Was Cook sacked on the orders of George Bush?". The Independent. London. 23 January 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
- Williams, John (9 August 2006). "With extreme prejudice". London: Guardian Online. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
- "Teheran two-times Straw by backing both sides". Iran Focus. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
- "Straw says Iraq 'most difficult decision' in his life". BBC News. BBC. 21 January 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- Brown, David (22 January 2010). "I could have stopped Blair on Iraq, Jack Straw admits". The Times. UK. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- Richard Norton-Taylor (11 April 2012). "Tony Blair has 'no recollection' of Libyan dissident's rendition". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
- Tom Whitehead (16 April 2012). "Straw under pressure over Belhadj rendition". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
- Johnstone, Jenny (29 February 2009). "Confessions of the great survivor: Jack Straw talks about what he really thought when Blair sacked him". The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - King, Oliver (5 May 2006). "Clarke sacked in major cabinet reshuffle". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 May 2006.
- "Straw to run Brown leadership bid". BBC News. 25 March 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
- In quotes: Jack Straw on the veil – BBC News. 6 October 2006
- "Straw in plea to Muslim women: Take off your veils". The Blackburn, Darwen And Hyndburn Citizen. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
- "Muslim veil row". GMTV. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
- "Straw's veil comments spark anger". BBC News. 5 October 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- Different hijabs
- Kettle, Martin (28 July 2008). "Clutching at Straw". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
- BBC News (25 February 2009). "Straw vetoes Iraq minutes release". BBC News. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- "Confessions of the great survivor: Jack Straw talks about what he really thought when Blair sacked him", The Daily Mail, 26 February 2009
- , thesun.co.uk, 28 February 2009
- "MPs' expenses claims – key details". BBC News. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- Rayner, Gordon (8 May 2009). "Daily Telegraph: Jack Straw". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- Mendonca, Susan (6 August 2010). "Jack Straw to quit Labour front bench". BBC News. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
- "Labour's yes to AV, The Guardian, 8 December 2010"
- Jack Straw: Some white girls are 'easy meat' for abuse
- Batty, David (8 January 2011). "White girls seen as 'easy meat' by Pakistani rapists, says Jack Straw". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
- Mosely, Tom (28 April 2011). "Blackburn MP Jack Straw takes £30k consultancy role". This Is Lancashire. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- The Guardian
- http://search.ancestry.co.uk/
- Joe Murphy (19 June 2001). "Cabinet's own marriage failures force retreat on traditional wedlock". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
- Richard Wachman (20 August 2006). "Couldn't BAA have come up with a contingency plan?". The Observer. London. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
- Colin Hughes (24 July 1999). "Jack Straw: Jack of all tirades". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
- http://www.the-football-club.com/famous-football-fans.html
- "Jack Straw". Trusupporter. 12 October 1991. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
- "Hoping for the sound of silence".
External links
- Blackburn Labour Party
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Jack Straw collected news and commentary at The Guardian and articles written by Jack Straw for The Guardian
- Jack Straw collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Jack Straw at IMDb
- Online exhibition of the May 1968 student protest in Leeds
- Jack Straw, BBC News, Newsnight, 17 October 2002
- the ConvaTec whistleblower and the Home secretary
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| Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs 2003–2007 | | |
| Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain Secretary of State for Justice 2007–present | ||
| Foreign secretaries of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs |
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| Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | ||
| Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs | ||
| Home secretaries of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Leaders of the House of Commons | |
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| Shadow home secretaries of the United Kingdom | |
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| Presidents of the National Union of Students | |
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- Use dmy dates from August 2012
- 1946 births
- Alumni of the University of Leeds
- British Secretaries of State
- British Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- English Anglicans
- English barristers
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- Leaders of the House of Commons
- Living people
- Lord Chancellors of Great Britain
- Lords Privy Seal
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Presidents of the National Union of Students (United Kingdom)
- People educated at Brentwood School (Essex)
- People from Epping Forest (district)
- People from Loughton
- English people of Jewish descent
- Politics of Blackburn
- Presidents of the United Nations Security Council
- Secretaries of State for the Home Department
- UK MPs 1979–1983
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- UK MPs 2010–
- British people of Jewish descent