Kenneth Clarke

The Right Honourable Kenneth Harry Clarke, QC, MP, (born 2 July 1940) is a leading Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is MP for Rushcliffe, near Nottingham. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 until 1997, and a minister throughout all 18 years of Conservative rule from 1979 to 1997. He has twice contested the leadership of the party (in 1997 and 2001), and is a candidate in the 2005 Conservative Party leadership election.

Parliament and Cabinet

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 was elected MP for the East Midlands constituency of Rushcliffe, outside Nottingham, which he has represented ever since. He soon appointed a Government whip - from 1972 to 1974 - where he helped ensure that the Heath administration won key votes on entry to the European 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 made a QC in 1980.

Related Topics:
Mansfield - 1964 - 1966 - 1970 - East Midlands - Rushcliffe - Whip - 1972 - 1974 - Margaret Thatcher - 1975 - 1976 - 1979 - QC - 1980

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Clarke's served as junior transport minister, and then as Minister for Health (1982-85). He joined the Cabinet as Paymaster General and Employment Minister (1985-87), and served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister at the DTI (1987-88). He was appointed Health Secretary in 1988, introducing the 'internal market' concept in the NHS. 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.

Related Topics:
1982 - 85 - 87 - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - DTI - 88 - 1990 - Douglas Hurd

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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 a spell 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. With Major bruised by Black Wednesday and the massive difficulties of securing ratification of the Maastricht Treaty (1992-93), Clarke was credited with saving the prime minister at a critical time when he himself might have challenged him for the leadership. 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.

Related Topics:
John Major - 1990 - 92 - Home Secretary - 1992 general election - 1993 - Black Wednesday - Norman Lamont - Chancellor of the Exchequer - Maastricht Treaty - 1990s

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Differences of opinion within the Cabinet on European policy, on which Clarke was one of the leading pro-Europeans, complicated his tenure as Chancellor. He 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.

Related Topics:
Brian Mawhinney - Harold Wilson - Hugh Scanlon - 1960s

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