Senior Labour MP Ann Clwyd has been made a member of the Privy Council.

Downing Street announced that the prime minister's special envoy to Iraq became the right honourable member for Cynon Valley on Monday.

Clwyd has represented the Welsh seat for 20 years and specialised in international development and human rights during her time in parliament.

A former MEP for Mid and West Wales, she became a champion for the cause of the Iraqi Kurds under Saddam Hussein and an expert on Iraq.

In the build up to the second Gulf war last year Clwyd was an outspoken advocate of regime change in Iraq and her knowledge of abuses committed by the Ba'athist regime persuaded many Labour MPs to back the conflict.

Following the war Tony Blair appointed her as his special envoy on human rights, a role which has taken her to Iraq on several occasions to check on progress in the reconstruction of the country.

The privy councillor honour will partly be seen as a reward for her loyalty and help in winning the crucial Commons vote sanctioning war.