Kenneth Clarke
The Conservative Whip was withdrawn from him in September 2019 because he and 20 other MPs voted with the Opposition on a motion; for the remainder of his time in Parliament he sat as an independent, though still on the government benches.He was one of only five ministers (Tony Newton, Malcolm Rifkind, Patrick Mayhew and Lynda Chalker are the others) to serve throughout the whole 18 years of the Thatcher-Major governments, which represents the longest uninterrupted ministerial service in Britain since Lord Palmerston in the early 19th century.[5] The younger Clarke won a scholarship to the independent Nottingham High School[6] before going up to read law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated with an upper second honours degree."[9] In an early-1990s documentary, journalist Michael Cockerell played to Clarke some tape recordings of him speaking at the Cambridge Union as an undergraduate, and he displayed amusement at hearing his then-stereotypical upper class accent.Even though Clarke opposed the election of Margaret Thatcher as Conservative Party Leader in 1975, he was appointed as her Industry Spokesman from 1976 to 1979, and then occupied a range of ministerial positions during her premiership.[17] He told his biographer Malcolm Balen: "John Moore was pursuing a line which Margaret [Thatcher] was very keen on, which made everything compulsory medical insurance.[18] In her memoirs, Thatcher claimed that Clarke, although "a firm believer in state provision", was "an extremely effective Health minister – tough in dealing with vested interests and trade unions, direct and persuasive in his exposition of government policy".[19] In January 1989, Clarke's White Paper Working for Patients appeared; this advocated giving hospitals the right to become self-governing NHS Trusts, taxpayer-funded but with control over their budgets and independent of the regional health authorities.[21] This was not well received by doctors and their trade union, the British Medical Association, launched a poster campaign against Clarke's reforms, claiming that the NHS was "underfunded, undermined and under threat".[23] Studies suggest that while the competition introduced in the "internal market" system resulted in shorter waiting times it also caused a reduction in the quality of care for patients.[36] 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.[38] When Tory Party Chairman, Brian Mawhinney, was understood to have briefed against him, Clarke declared: "tell your kids to get their scooters off my lawn" – an allusion to Harold Wilson's rebuke of Trades Union leader Hugh Scanlon in the late 1960s.Despite opinion polls again showing he was the most popular Conservative politician with the British public,[16] 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.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.He had told the Parliamentary authorities that his main home was in the Rushcliffe constituency, enabling him to claim a second-home allowance on his London residence, leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill for Council Tax due on that property.[45] On 12 May 2010, Clarke's appointment as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in the Coalition Government formed between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.Clarke, who described the current prison population of 85,000 as "astonishing", received immediate criticism from some colleagues in a Party renowned for its tough stance on law and order.He signalled that fathers who fail to pay child maintenance, disqualified drivers and criminals fighting asylum refusals could be among the first to benefit and should not be sent to prison.[52][53] The Economist stated: "the origins of the proposed legislation lie in civil cases brought by former Guantánamo detainees, the best-known of whom was Binyam Mohamed, alleging that government intelligence and security agencies (MI6 and MI5) were complicit in their rendition and torture".[54][55] Prominent civil liberties and human rights campaigners argued: "the worst excesses of the war on terror have been revealed by open courts and a free media.[58] His total time as a government minister is the fifth-longest in the modern era after Winston Churchill, Arthur Balfour, Rab Butler, and the Duke of Devonshire.In a widely circulated video clip, he referred to Theresa May as a "bloody difficult woman", joked that Michael Gove, who was "wild", would "go to war with at least three countries at once" and characterised some of the utterances of Andrea Leadsom as "extremely stupid"."[63] In February 2017, following the death of Gerald Kaufman, Clarke succeeded as Father of the House, continuing after his re-election as an MP at the 2017 general election.Nominated in early 2020 for elevation to the peerage by Boris Johnson,[76] on 4 September he was created Baron Clarke of Nottingham, of West Bridgford in the County of Nottinghamshire.Clarke attended the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final and jokingly claims to have been influential in persuading the linesman, Tofiq Bahramov, to award a goal to Geoff Hurst when the England striker had seen his shot hit the crossbar of opponents West Germany, leaving doubt as to whether the ball had crossed the line.
Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark (disambiguation)The Right HonourableSecretary of State for JusticeLord High Chancellor of Great BritainElizabeth IIDavid CameronJack StrawChris GraylingMinister without PortfolioThe Baroness WarsiRobert HalfonChancellor of the ExchequerJohn MajorNorman LamontGordon BrownHome SecretaryKenneth BakerMichael HowardSecretary of State for Education and ScienceMargaret ThatcherJohn MacGregorJohn PattenSecretary of State for HealthJohn MooreWilliam WaldegraveChancellor of the Duchy of LancasterNorman TebbitTony NewtonMinister of State for Trade and IndustryGiles ShawEric ForthPaymaster GeneralJohn GummerPeter BrookeMinister of State for EmploymentPeter MorrisonJohn CopeMinister of State for HealthGerard VaughanBarney HayhoeParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for TransportJohn HoramLynda ChalkerLord Commissioner of the TreasuryEdward HeathHugh RossiDonald ColemanShadow cabinetShadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and SkillsAlan DuncanPat McFaddenShadow Chancellor of the ExchequerPeter LilleyFather of the House of CommonsJohn BercowLindsay HoyleGerald KaufmanPeter BottomleyHouse of Lordslife peerMember of ParliamentRushcliffeAntony GardnerRuth EdwardsLangley MillConservativeAlma materGonville and Caius College, CambridgeConservative PartyCabinetsHealth SecretaryEducation SecretaryGreat Offices of StateTory Reform Groupone-nation conservativeeconomicallysocially liberalConservative Party leadershipEuroscepticpro-Europeancoalition governmentJustice SecretaryLord ChancellorUnited Kingdom Anti-Corruption ChampionThe Conservative Whip was withdrawnindependent2019 general electionConservative Europe GroupBritish InfluenceEuropean Movement UKPrime MinistersMalcolm RifkindPatrick MayhewLord PalmerstonNottingham High SchoolLabourCommunistCambridge University Conservative AssociationSir Oswald MosleyCambridge UnionPresident of the Cambridge UnionMichael CockerellCambridge MafiaCambridgecalled to the BarGray's InnQueen's CounselMansfieldJune 1970East MidlandsNottinghamTony GardnerEuropean CommunitiesEuropean UnionFather of the HouseClement Tudwayportraitin oilParliamentary secretaryTransportParliamentary under-secretary of stateMinister of StateHealthLord Young of GraffhamBritish Aerospace