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.

Since 1997

Since the Conservatives entered Opposition in 1997, Clarke has twice stood for the leadership of the Conservative Party. In 1997 he was defeated in the third and final round by William Hague, in a vote exclusively among Members of Parliament. 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. Ironically, in 2001, after coming first in the parliamentary ballot, Clarke 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. In Opposition, Clarke has so far refused to accept any Shadow Cabinet position, having first been offered a senior role by Hague in 1997.

Related Topics:
1997 - William Hague - Members of Parliament - 2001 - Iain Duncan Smith - Euroscepticism

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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) (1998-2005) 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.http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1554302,00.html He has presented several series of jazz programmes on BBC Radio Four.

Related Topics:
British American Tobacco - 1998 - 2005 - Alliance Unichem - BBC Radio Four

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Leadership contest

After Iain Duncan Smith lost a vote of no confidence within the Conservative parliamentary party in 2003, Clarke announced he would support Michael Howard as his successor, and accepted nomination to a new panel of senior party figures to advise the leader (called the "Wise Men", comprising himself, John Major, William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith), while again declining a Shadow Cabinet post. When Michael Howard stepped down after losing the 2005 general election, Clarke confirmed he would again stand for the position of party leader in autumn 2005, against the other expected contenders including Malcolm Rifkind, David Cameron, David Davis and Liam Fox.

Related Topics:
Iain Duncan Smith - 2003 - Michael Howard - 2005 general election - 2005 - Malcolm Rifkind - David Cameron - David Davis - Liam Fox

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Clarke denied accusations he was too old to lead the party, at 65, noting that he was "overwhelmingly more popular" than his potential rivals. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4213544.stm Lord Tebbit accused Clarke of being "lazy" and said that voters would find his connections with the tobacco industry distasteful. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4202196.stm

Related Topics:
Lord Tebbit - Tobacco industry

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Clarke's lack of involvement in frontbench politics since 1997 means that, unlike his leadership rivals, he is not associated with the policies and electoral failures of the Tory party under the leaderships of William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard. In campaign speeches to date, Clarke has attacked Tony Blair's "catastrophic error" in involving the UK in the war with Iraq http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4203296.stm and accused the government of being "autocratic". "We have a Prime Minister who is more George III than Clement Atlee", he said.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4249964.stm

Related Topics:
George III - Clement Atlee

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An ICM opinion poll conducted for Newsnight on 5 September 2005 gave Clarke a 40% approval rating for leader, as against 10% for his nearest rival, David Davis.

Related Topics:
5 September - 2005 - David Davis

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Personal Life

Ken Clarke's principal interests are jazz, birdwatching, reading political history and watching most kinds of sport.

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

Related Topics:
Ginger group - Tory Reform Group

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