Clare Moody

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For the television and stage actor and producer, see Clare Lawrence Moody.

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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

References[edit]

  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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