Kenneth Clarke encyclopedia topics

Early life

Born in Nottingham, England in 1940, Clarke was educated at Nottingham High School (then a "direct grant" school) and went on to study law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he graduated with a 2:1. He had joined the Conservatives while at university, where he was chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association. As a student, he controversially invited the former British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley to speak for a second year in succession, leading some Jewish students (including his future successor at the Home Office Michael Howard) to resign from CUCA in protest. Clarke was defeated for the presidency of the Cambridge Union Society by Howard, although he was subsequently elected President of the Union a year later. In an early 1990s documentary journalist Michael Cockerell played Clarke tape recordings of himself speaking at the Cambridge Union as a young man; Clarke displayed amusement at the stereotypically upper class accent with which he spoke at the time. He was part of the Cambridge Mafia, a group of prominent Conservative politicians who were educated at Cambridge in the 1960s.

On leaving Cambridge, Clarke was called to the Bar in 1963.

Member of Parliament

Clarke sought election to the House of Commons almost immediately after university. He cut his teeth by fighting the Labour stronghold of Mansfield in the 1964 and 1966 elections. In June 1970, at the age of 29, he gained the East Midlands constituency of Rushcliffe, south of Nottingham, from Labour MP Tony Gardner. Labour has never come close to winning the seat since, but Gardner's 1966 victory was partly due to the unpopular sitting Tory MP whom he defeated. Clarke has sat for Rushcliffe (on changed boundaries) ever since, making him by 2005 one of the longest serving of all MPs.

He was soon appointed a Government whip—from 1972 to 1974—where he helped ensure that Edward Heath's government won key votes on entry to the European Economic Community with the assistance of Labour rebels. Even though he opposed the election of Margaret Thatcher as party leader in 1975, he was appointed as her industry spokesman from 1976 to 1979, and then occupied a wide range of ministerial positions during her premiership, from 1979 onwards. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1980.

In the government

Clarke served as junior transport minister, and then as Minister of State for Health (1982–85). He joined the Cabinet as Paymaster-General and Employment Minister (1985-87) (his Secretary of State, Lord Young, was in the Lords), and served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister at the DTI (1987–88), with responsibility for the Inner Cities ("because," as one wag put it, "he looked like he lived in one").

He was appointed Health Secretary in 1988, introducing the controversial 'internal market' concept in the NHS, before being appointed Education Secretary in the final weeks of Thatcher's government, in the reshuffle caused by Sir Geoffrey Howe's resignation (the job had been offered to Norman Tebbit, who declined to return to the Cabinet). He was famously the first Cabinet minister to advise Thatcher to resign after her inadequate first-round performance in the November 1990 leadership contest; she referred to him in her memoirs as a "candid friend". He supported Douglas Hurd in the next round.

Despite the victory of John Major in that contest, he came to work with Thatcher's successor very closely, and quickly emerged as a central figure in his government. After continuing as Education Secretary (1990-92), where he introduced a number of reforms, he was appointed as Home Secretary in the wake of the Conservatives' unexpected victory at the 1992 general election. In May 1993, seven months after the impact of 'Black Wednesday' had terminally damaged the credibility of Norman Lamont as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Major forced Lamont to resign from that office and appointed Clarke in his place.

Chancellor of Exchequer

At first Clarke was seen as the dominant figure in the Cabinet, and at the October 1993 Conference he "defended" Major from his critics by announcing "Any enemy of John Major is an enemy of mine" in a manner widely seen as overbearing. By the time of the Redwood leadership challenge in June 1995 there were even rumours (always denied) that Major had offered the Chancellorship to Heseltine.

Clarke enjoyed an increasingly successful record as Chancellor, as the economy recovered from the recession of the early 1990s and a new monetary policy was put into effect after Black Wednesday. He was able to reduce the basic rate of Income Tax from 25 to 23%, as well as reduce the share of GDP consumed by government spending, and halve the budget deficit. Interest rates, inflation and unemployment all fell during his tenure at HM Treasury.

Differences of opinion within the Cabinet on European policy, on which Clarke was one of the leading pro-Europeans, complicated his tenure as Chancellor. Whereas other ministers such as Malcolm Rifkind wished to imply that British euro membership was unlikely, Clarke fought successfully to maintain the possibility that Britain might join a European single currency under a Conservative government, but conceded that such a move could only take place on the basis of a referendum. When the 'Eurosceptic' Party Chairman, Brian Mawhinney, (allegedly) briefed against him, on one occasion, Clarke memorably declared: "Tell your kids to get their scooters off my lawn" - an allusion to Harold Wilson's rebuke of trade union leader Hugh Scanlon in the late 1960s.

Backbencher

After the Conservatives entered Opposition in 1997 and John Major resigned, Clarke contested the leadership of the party for the first time. In 1997, a vote exclusively among Members of Parliament, he topped the poll in the first and second rounds. In the third and final round he formed an alliance with Eurosceptic John Redwood, who would have become Shadow Chancellor and Clarke's deputy if Clarke had won the contest. However, Margaret Thatcher chose to endorse Clarke's leadership rival William Hague, who proceeded to win the election comfortably. The contest was criticised for not involving, except in an advisory role, the rank-and-file members of the party, where surveys showed Clarke to be more popular. Clarke rejected the offer of a Shadow Cabinet role from Hague and became a backbencher.

He contested the leadership for the second time in 2001. Despite opinion polls showing he was the most popular Conservative politician with the public, he lost in a final round among the rank-and-file membership—a new procedure introduced by Hague—to a much less experienced, but strongly Eurosceptic rival, Iain Duncan Smith. This loss, by a margin of 62% to 38%, was attributed to the former Chancellor's pro-European views being increasingly out of step with the dominant Euroscepticism of the party membership.

Clarke opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After choosing not the fight for the leadership after Duncan Smith departed in 2003—in the interests of party unity—he returned to fight the 2005 election. He again had large popularity among voters, with 40% of the public believing he would be the best leader. However, he was accused by Norman Tebbit of being "lazy" whilst leadership rival Sir Malcolm Rifkind claimed that Clarke's pro-European views could have divided the Conservative Party if Clarke had won. In the event, Clarke was eliminated in the first round of voting among MPs. Eventual winner David Cameron appointed Clarke to head a Democracy task force as part of his extensive 18-month policy review in December 2005, exploring issues such as the reform of the House of Lords and party funding.

Clarke is president of the moderate, pro-European ginger group within the Conservative Party, Tory Reform Group.

Corporate career

As a backbencher, Clarke has taken a number of non-executive directorships and engaged in non-political media work, including serving as Deputy Chairman of British American Tobacco (BAT) (1998-2007) and Deputy Chairman of Alliance Unichem, and has faced allegations over the activities of BAT in lobbying the developing world to reject stronger health warnings on cigarette packets and evidence that his corporation has been involved in smuggling.

He has presented several series of jazz programmes on BBC Radio Four, including one on his namesake, bebop drummer Kenny Clarke.

Clarke has been a Chairman (non-executive) of Unichem, a director of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust and Deputy Chairman and director of British American Tobacco. Clarke has written a monthly column for Financial Mail on Sunday (£10,001-£15,000) and weekly commentary or interview for Bloomberg Television (£10,001-£15,000). Clarke has occasionally worked in journalism and lecturing, on a self-employed basis. In June 2007 he was appointed to the Advisory Board of Centaurus Capital, a London based hedge fund management company.

A member of the Bilderberg Group, Clarke is also a Director (non-executive) of Independent News and Media (UK).

Personal life

Clarke married Gillian Edwards, also a Cambridge graduate, in November 1964. They have two children—a son and a daughter. He is well known for his enjoyment of cigars, jazz and classical cars. He also likes birdwatching and reading political history.

He is also likes watching sport. He is a supporter of Nottingham Forest F.C. and is a former President of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and a keen follower of Formula one motorsport. As a director of the tobacco giant BAT he was involved with their Formula One team British American Racing and has attended Grands Prix in support of the BAR team. BAR was sold to Honda in 2005.

He attended the 1966 World Cup final and claims (with a little jest) to have been influential in persuading the man known vernacularly as "the Russian linesman" Tofik Bakhramov (who was actually from Azerbaijan), to award a goal to Geoff Hurst when the England striker had seen his shot hit the crossbar of opponents West Germany and bounce down, leaving doubt as to whether the ball had crossed the line. Clarke's position in the Wembley crowd was right behind the linesman at the time, and he shouted at the official to award a goal. Clarke makes this claim in jest as Bakhramov understood no English at all.

Clarke is a lover of Real Ale and has been a member of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).