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 ).

Straw briefly served as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment under John Smith from 1992 to 1994, speaking on matters concerning local government.

Only Straw, Brown and Alistair Darling served in the cabinet continuously during Labour's 13 year administration from 1997 to 2010.

Darling was one of only three people to have served in the Cabinet continuously from Labour's victory in 1997 until its defeat in 2010 ( the others being Gordon Brown and Jack Straw ).

In 2005 Griffiths served as the Deputy to the Leader of the House of Commons under Jack Straw.

In Parliament he was a member of the European Scrutiny Select Committee for three years from 2001 and has served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2003-2006 and Foreign Secretary 2006-2007 Margaret Beckett and Lord High Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice 2007-2008 Jack Straw.

He was asked by Tony Blair to produce a report on solutions to crime in 2000, and served as advisor to the Prime Minister on Criminal Justice from 2000 – 2001, although Blair's decision to ask Birt for a " private " report on crime irritated Jack Straw and the Home Office.

Kabbani allegedly thanked UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in 2005 for the role the UK played in the Middle East, saying: “ We are glad to see changes taking place in the political mechanisms in the Middle East.

" While Stipe continued to write songs with political subject matter like " Ignoreland " and " Final Straw ", later albums have focused on other topics.

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.

In 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.

* Ben Lucas ( Chair 1986 )-Former special adviser to Jack Straw.

He was an adviser to Jack Straw during his time at the Home Office and was part of the Tory Well-Being Commission.

Straw was selected to stand for Parliament in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1977, after Barbara Castle ( the incumbent ) decided not to seek re-election.

In 1974 she became the personal assistant to the MP for Blackburn, Barbara Castle and to her successor Jack Straw

Jack Straw and some of his followers used the site as a temporary headquarters ; consequently the derelict manor became known for the next 500 years as Jack Straw ’ s Castle.

This should not be confused with the better known Jack Straw ’ s Castle, formerly a pub and now residential flats at Whitestone Ponds, Hampstead, which was named after the semi-legendary leader of the revolt.

John Dawes, a wealthy stockbroker, acquired the site of Jack Straw ’ s Castle together with of surrounding land.

The Jack Straw's Castle, reputed to be the highest pub in London, took its name from a story that Straw addressed groups of rebels on the Heath from a hay wagon which became known as " Jack Straw's Castle ".

* The Straw Man Fallacy at the Fallacy Files

* June 12 – Peasants ' Revolt: In England, rebels from Kent and Essex, led by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, meet at Blackheath.

* Straw bales are sometimes used for sediment control at construction sites.

** Straw envelopes for wine bottles have become rarer, but are still to be found at some wine merchants.

Take Tin Ice-Pots, fill them with any Sort of Cream you like, either plain or sweeten ’ d, or Fruit in it ; shut your Pots very close ; to six Pots you must allow eighteen or twenty Pound of Ice, breaking the Ice very small ; there will be some great Pieces, which lay at the Bottom and Top: You must have a Pail, and lay some Straw at the Bottom ; then lay in your Ice, and put in amongst it a Pound of Bay-Salt ; set in your Pots of Cream, and 93 lay Ice and Salt between every Pot, that they may not touch ; but the Ice must lie round them on every Side ; lay a good deal of Ice on the Top, cover the Pail with Straw, set it in a Cellar where no Sun or Light comes, it will be froze in four Hours, but it may stand longer ; then take it out just as you use it ; hold it in your Hand and it will slip out.

Although they did have a version of summer theatre in smaller holiday districts, such as the " Straw Hat " players of Gravenhurst and Port Carling at Ontario's vacation Muskoka Lakes area.

Meanwhile the " Men of Essex " had gathered with Jack Straw at Great Baddow and had marched on London, arriving at Stepney.

Recent speakers at the LSE have included Kofi Annan, Hilary Benn, Ben Bernanke, Tony Blair, Hazel Blears, Cherie Booth, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Noam Chomsky, Bill Clinton, Alistair Darling, Niall Ferguson, Joschka Fischer, Vicente Fox, Milton Friedman, Muammar al-Gaddafi, John Lewis Gaddis, Alan Greenspan, Tenzin Gyatso, Will Hutton, Paul Krugman, Richard Lambert, Jens Lehmann, Lee Hsien Loong, John Major, Nelson Mandela, Mary McAleese, Dmitri Medvedev, John Atta Mills, Mario Monti, George Osborne, Robert Peston, Sebastián Piñera, Kevin Rudd, Jeffrey Sachs, Gerhard Schroeder, Carlos D. Mesa, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Costas Simitis, George Soros, Lord Stern, Jack Straw, Aung San Suu Kyi, Baroness Thatcher, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rowan Williams.

A few days later, on 15 June 1381, the elder John Cavendish was seized at Bury St Edmunds and beheaded by a mob led by Jack Straw.

This was to no avail, however, and he was taken to the market place at Bury St. Edmunds and beheaded by a mob led by Jack Straw on 15 June 1381.

Each year in summer the village holds The Oxenhope Straw Race, a team event in which competitors complete a 2. 5-mile course around the village carrying a bale of straw and stopping at each pub on the route for a pint of beer.

Also on September 19, 2009, " The Shortest Straw " made its way back into the set lists during its World Magnetic Tour after a 12 year absence at the Montreal Bell Center, not being played live since February 9, 1997.

Molly dancers at Whittlesey # Whittlesea Straw Bear | Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival

Pig Dyke Molly, in their distinctive black-and-white costumes, performing a broom dance at Whittlesea Straw Bear

The largest regular assemblage of Molly Dancers is at the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival, established 1980, which is held in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, every January.

The Spectator described her as, " at heart, an old, isolationist, pacifist Leftist " and called on her to resign, and the New Statesman accused her of allowing the Foreign Office to become subservient to 10 Downing Street after the tenures of Jack Straw and Robin Cook.

Straw was also imported from Italy to produce the superior ' Tuscan plait ' traded at a Saturday market for the Luton and Dunstable hat trade and remained the major cottage industry until around 1860, providing employment for women and girls some of whom attended a ' plait-school ' in Waterside.

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.

" 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.

* 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

St Albans played a role in the Peasants ' Revolt of 1381: the peasants, led by a local man William Grindcobbe and Jack Straw, forced their way into the Abbey and demanded a charter for the freedom of St Albans from the Abbot (' Charter of freedom of the villeins of St Alban's forcibly obtained from the Abbot and Convent ', 16 June 1381 ).

Straw bales are used to shield the beets from the weather.

* " Hoedown ", from Rodeo by Aaron Copland, credited, quoting " Shortenin ' Bread " and " Turkey in the Straw "", both traditional.

As Home Secretary the Labour MP Jack Straw discovered the existence of his own file dating from his days as a student radical.

On the 17th, speeches by Bush and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw explicitly declared the period of diplomacy to be over, as declared by Resolution 1441's prohibition on giving Iraq new opportunities for compliance, and that no further authorization from the UN would be sought before an invasion of Iraq ( see 2003 invasion of Iraq ).

Similarly Straw Dogs was denied video certification and removed from video stores.

A senior member of the previous government, Jack Straw, asked Muslim women from his constituency to remove any veils covering their faces during face-to-face meetings with him.

" Starting on December 30, 1978, Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead occasionally changed the lyrics of the Dead standard Jack Straw in concert from " we used to play for silver, now we play for life ," to " we used to play for silver, now we play for Clive.

* Walter Wolfgang was removed from the 2005 Labour Party conference for heckling Jack Straw.

The Iowa Straw Poll differed from the national polls where she was second only to Bush ; Senator John McCain was in third place.

Straw plaiting was seen as home-based work for the wives and daughters of labourers from the 18th century.

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 ).

From 1971 to 1974 Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974.

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 ".

As Home Secretary, Straw was also involved in changing the electoral system for the European Parliament elections from plurality to proportional representation.

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.

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.

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.