Clare Moody
Moody in 2017
Member of the European Parliament
for South West England
In office
1 July 2014 – 1 July 2019
Personal details
Born
Clare Miranda Moody

(1965-10-30) 30 October 1965 (age 58)
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Political partyLabour
Residence(s)Salisbury, Wiltshire
Alma materUniversity of Kent
Occupation
  • Politician
  • trade unionist
WebsiteOfficial website

Clare Miranda Moody (born 30 October 1965) is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 2014 to 2019.

Early life and career

Clare Miranda Moody was born on 30 October 1965 in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire to Joan and Raymond Moody.[1][2] Brought up in Burford, her father served as town mayor and both her parents were Conservative Party activists.[3][2]

Moody trained as a secretary. Later she studied industrial relations at the University of Kent and began her career in trade unionism at the Banking, Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU).[4] BIFU went through several amalgamations to become UNIFI, Amicus, and later Unite, where she worked as a regional officer in Bournemouth.[5]

Moody worked in the Number 10 Policy Unit under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.[3][6] She was the Labour candidate for Salisbury, a safe Conservative seat, at the 2005 general election.[3] Moody also stood to become the inaugural Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner,[7] reaching the second round as Labour's candidate in the 2012 election.[8]

European Parliamentary career

Moody visiting Gibraltar in 2017

Moody unsuccessfully contested South West England in the 2004 European Parliament election, in fourth position on the Labour Party list.[3] However, she was elected as a Member of European Parliament for the region in the May 2014 elections, now placed as the lead list candidate.[9]

During her tenure in the European Parliament, Moody served as vice-chair of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. She has also been a member of the Budget, Foreign Affairs, Industry, Research and Energy, and Women's Rights committees.[1][10][11]

She was co-chair of the Friends of Georgia group, and worked on the EU-Georgia Association Agreement through her Foreign Affairs committee membership.[12][13] Moody voted in favour of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market in 2019, despite concerns that the legislation enforced censorship on EU internet users.[14]

Moody lost her seat in the 2019 European Parliament election, when no Labour candidate was returned in South West England.

Post-Parliamentary career

Moody was appointed Political Director at public relations company Grayling in 2019, a subsidiary of Huntsworth, where she later became Senior Strategic Director.[15][16][17] In 2021, she was appointed co-CEO of the human rights and equality charity Equally Ours.[18][19]

In June 2022, Moody was shortlisted to become the Labour candidate in the marginal Stroud constituency,[18] but was not selected.[20]

Moody is the Labour candidate in the 2024 Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner election.[21]

Political views

European Union

Moody supported the remain campaign in the 2016 EU membership referendum,[22] and supported a delay before invoking Article 50 to allow for negotiations post-referendum.[23] She supported Britain staying in the European single market and the Customs Union post-Brexit.[24] She chaired the Labour Movement for Europe from 2017 to 2019, and campaigned for a second referendum on the final Brexit deal.[25]

She credited the loss of her European Parliamentary seat in 2019 to Labour's Brexit position, arguing that the party needed to adopt a clear pro-EU stance.[26] In 2023, The New European reported that she acknowledged Britain would not rejoin in the next parliament, but believed rejoining "will become a question again. For a growth agenda, we have to fix our relationship with the EU."[27]

Labour Party

Moody supported Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election.[28] During the leadership challenge to Jeremy Corbyn in June 2016, she supported calls for his resignation.[29]

Personal life

Moody resides in Salisbury, Wiltshire.[3] She has a son.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b "Clare MOODY". Europa. European Parliament. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Interview: Raymond & Joan Moody". The Bridge Magazine. December 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e Sarah O'Grady (22 March 2010). "Tory roots of Brown's aide Clare Moody". Daily Express. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Clare Moody". Her Salisbury Story. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Contact us - Unite in the South West". Unite the Union. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  6. ^ "European elections 2014: Labour aim to get back on South West map". BBC News. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Union boss throws hat in ring for police post". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Wiltshire police and crime commissioner results". BBC. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  9. ^ "vote 2014 - South West". BBC. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  10. ^ Moody, Clare (27 November 2018). "UK must remain a defence player". The Parliament Magazine. Dods. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  11. ^ "Clare Moody MEP". Labour in Europe. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  12. ^ "MEP calls Georgia a star of the region for commitment to European values". Agenda.ge. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  13. ^ Moody, Clare (29 January 2019). "With Salome Zurabishvili, Georgia leads the way, again". EURACTIV. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  14. ^ "EU votes for copyright law that would make internet a 'tool for control'". The Guardian. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Welcome to Grayling Brussels PA". Grayling. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  16. ^ "Grayling's report on how politicians across Europe are using social media" (PDF). Grayling. 28 April 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  17. ^ "Healthcare". Grayling. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  18. ^ a b Loveridge, Ashley (9 June 2022). "Former MEP Clare Moody throws hat into the ring for Stroud Labour seat". Stroud Times. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  19. ^ "Our team". Equally Ours. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  20. ^ Stewart, Heather (1 July 2022). "Starmer allies reject claims leftwingers blocked from standing for Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  21. ^ "New police cuts: Tories demand £8 million more from local taxpayers in return for 200 fewer police says Labour PCC candidate". Midsomer Norton and Radstock Nub News. 26 February 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Should we stay in the EU? MEP Clare Moody will say 'yes' at a Taunton meeting". Somerset County Gazette. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  23. ^ "'Hard Brexit' will 'blow a hole' in the economy, warns Labour MEP". The Herald. Plymouth. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ Moody, Clare (22 June 2017). "After May's election failure, we need to hit the reset button on Brexit negotiations". LabourList. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  25. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (29 April 2019). "34 Labour MEP candidates sign public vote pledge". LabourList. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  26. ^ Jenkins, Philippa (27 May 2019). "Former Labour MEP Clare Moody says 'voters have had enough' after losing her seat". CornwalLlive. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  27. ^ Beckett, Francis (31 January 2023). "What Britain's MEPs did next". The New European. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  28. ^ "Unparalleled Ambition for Britain - Why I'm Backing Yvette for Labour Leader". HuffPost UK. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  29. ^ "South West MEP backs calls for Jeremy Corbyn to stand down". The Herald. Plymouth. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.[permanent dead link]
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