Ken Clarke

Ken Clarke
Name	Kenneth Harry Clarke (born 2 July 1940)
Nicknames	"Big Beast" (UK media)
Politics
Party	Conservative
Constituency	Rushcliffe (1970 - present)
Positions	• Father of the House of Commons (27 February 2017 - present) • Minister without Portfolio • Lord Chancellor • Secretary of State for Justice • Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills • Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer • Chancellor of the Exchequer • Home Secretary • Secretary of State for Education and Science • Secretary of State for Health
Likes	Jazz music, real ale, Europe
Dislikes	The right wing of his party
Friends	John Major, John Bercow
Enemies	The right wing of his party
Relationships
Partners	Gillian Edwards (m. 1964-2015; her death)
Children	1 son and daughter
Personal Attributes
Nationality	British
Religion	?
Sexuality	Straight
Height	In feet and inches
Eye Colour	?
Handedness	?
Accent	?
Languages	You can delete this line if they only know English

A quote about or by the person. It doesn't matter if you can't find one, just leave it blank. ~ The source, if known

Best known for being in politics a very long time and not really giving a fuck any more.

Life and Career

Early Life

Ken at university

Ken was born in 1940 in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire and was christened with same name as his father, Kenneth Clarke, a Nottinghamshire mining electrician and later a watchmaker and jeweller. He studied at Nottingham High School.

He read Law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and graduated with an Upper Second honours. Clarke had initially held Labour sympathies, his grandfather having been a Communist, but while at Cambridge he joined the Conservative Party. He became head of the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) and invited former British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley to speak for two years in succession, prompting some Jewish students (including Michael Howard with whom he would work in parliament many years later) to leave. He was also head of the Cambridge Union and objected to the introduction of female students to the Union.

Because of his time spent studying at Cambridge he is believed to be part of the "Cambridge Mafia" - a group of Conservative MPs who all studied at Cambridge in the 1960s. They all went to different colleges and didn't overlap, but when most of the party goes to Oxford being a former Cambridge student really makes you stick out...

Pre-political Career

After leaving Cambridge, Ken was called to the Bar in 1963 at Gray's Inn and "took silk" (was promoted to Queen's Counsel) in 1980.

Early Political Career

Clarke sought election to the House of Commons almost immediately after leaving university because he was such a politics nerd. He stood for the Labour stronghold of Mansfield in the 1964 and 1966 elections and lost both times. In June 1970, at the age of 29, he won the East Midlands constituency of Rushcliffe and finally became an MP.

Parliamentary Career

Ken was quickly pushed up the ranks, becoming a Government Whip in 1972. While in the post he helped Edward Heath's government push through the positive vote on the European Economic Community (which would eventually become the EU), starting Ken's long love affair with Europe.

Although he was opposed to Margaret Thatcher becoming leader of the Conservative Party, he accepted positions in her government including Secretary of State for Health in 1988. This raised a few eyebrows as Ken is a big smoker and a keen advocate for the tobacco industry. During his time at the department he introduced the concept on internal competition in the NHS - he claims he did this in order to fend off Thatcher's preferred option of compulsory health insurance.

In the final weeks of Thatcher's Prime Ministership, Ken was moved to the Department for Education and Science. He was also the first Cabinet Minister to tell Thatcher that she should resign following her narrow win in the first round of the 1990 leadership vote. Thatcher referred to Ken as "the candid friend" in her memoirs somewhat ironically since they really didn't get on that well.

Ken worked closely with John Major when the latter became Prime Minister. Ken continued in the Department for Education but was later moved to Home Secretary. Following the events of Black Wednesday and the terminal damage it did to the then Chancellor Norman Lamont's reputation, Ken Clarke was made Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

Ken enjoying a drink at work

Ken was seen as a close ally of John Major and often stuck up for him when there were plots to oust the Prime Minister. "Any enemy of John Major is an enemy of mine" he told the 1993 Conservative Party Conference.

He was generally seen as a successful Chancellor as the UK economy bounced back after Black Wednesday. He cut government spending, cut the deficit, cut the basic rate of income tax. Interest rates, inflation and unemployment all fell during Ken's time as Chancellor though how much this was to do with Ken himself is open to debate. Gordon Brown followed Ken's policies closely upon becoming Chancellor in 1997 and together they managed to wipe out the UK's deficit in 1998 in turn allowing Brown 4 years of budget surplus.

Ken's time as Chancellor is memorable for the fact that he drank whisky while giving his budgets in Parliament.

His pro-European stance as Chancellor put him at odds with a lot of his party and Ken fought hard to keep open the possibility that the UK might join a single European currency (after a referendum) under a Conservative government. The lead to a lot of nasty briefing against Ken by right of the party but Ken really did not give a fuck.

Backbencher

Following the Tories 1997 electoral defeat and John Major's resignation of the leadership, Ken stood in the subsequent party election. He was ahead to begin with and a strategic alliance with John Redwood kept the right of the party on side. That was until Maraget Thatcher backed William Hague instead and Ken lost support. Hague won the election, which came under heavy criticism from the public and the rest of the party since the only people who could vote for the leader were Tory MPs. This was important because polling suggested that had the competition been open to the whole party, Ken would have won by quite a way.

Ken rejected an offer of a Shadow Cabinet position under Hague's leadership and returned to the backbenches instead.

In 2001 Ken again took part in the election for the Conservative Party leadership. He got through to the final round and lost of Iain Duncan Smith. Although this time the election was open to all members of the Conservative Party, Ken lost largely in part due to his pro-European views. Ken did not fight the 2003 leadership election battle but did throw his hat into the ring for the 2005 election. He was kicked out in the first round, again due to his pro-European-ness.

Shadow Cabinet

After heading up a review into democracy for the new leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron, Ken was invited back into Shadow Cabinet in 2009 as Shadow Business Secretary opposite Peter Mandelson. Ken also set about explaining to Cameron why he was wrong about nearly everything straight away although it didn't make the papers until much later, sadly.

Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary

Following the formation of the coalition government after the 2010 general election, Ken Clarke was made Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary. This was because he was one of the few Tories that the Lib Dems could stand in such a role and Cameron could blame Ken any time the right of the Conservative Party tried to pick a fight.

Ken did a lot of technical things while at Justice but not many of them are particularly funny. He did signal an end to short prison sentences on the grounds that they are ridiculously expensive and don't actually achieve anything. He also pointed out that in many cases prison in its current form is not effective and was immediately yelled at by most of the rest of his party. He got yelled at by the left of the political spectrum by saying that "some rapes are more serious than others" in a radio interview and proposed reducing prison sentences for people who please guilty to sexual offenses. Ken then introduced the Justice and Security Bill which got massively flack for the proposal that trials could be conducted in secret if the government deemed that national security would be at stake should the trial be public.

Minister Without Portfolio

In 2012 Ken moved from Justice to Minister Without Portfolio, a post previously held by Peter Mandelson. During this time he generally just hung around and couldn't criticise the government too much without breaking that little constitutional convention of collective Cabinet responsibility. He also began working as a UK trade envoy and started to get ready for the upcoming EU referendum by heading up a pro-EU pressure group called British Influence with the likes of Danny Alexander and Peter Mandelson.

Back to the Backbenches

In Cameron's 2014 reshuffle, Ken moved back to the backbenches where he continued to not give a fuck about anything and tell everyone they were wrong all the time without having to worry about being held responsible for it.

Full List of Appointments
• Government Whip (1972 - 1974)
• Industry Spokesman (1976 - 1979)
• Parliamentary Secretary for Transport (1979 – 1981)
• Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (1981 – 1982)
• Minister of State for Health (1982 – 1985)
• Paymaster-General and Employment Minister (2 September 1985 – 13 July 1987)
• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (13 July 1987 – 25 July 1988)
• Secretary of State for Health (25 July 1988 – 2 November 1990)
• Secretary of State for Education and Science (2 November 1990 – 10 April 1992)
• Home Secretary (10 April 1992 – 27 May 1993)
• Chancellor of the Exchequer (27 May 1993 – 2 May 1997)
• Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997)
• Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (19 January 2009 – 11 May 2010)
• Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice (12 May 2010 – 4 September 2012)
• Minister without Portfolio (4 September 2012 – 14 July 2014)

Greatest Moments
Date	Summary	Video	Transcript
10 June 2013	Ken doesn't understand why he has to answer these stupid questions		Full text in Hansard

Personal Life

It is well known that Ken Clarke is a big fan of jazz music - he used to stay up until 1 in the morning at jazz clubs, drinking and then go to Cabinet the next day at 8.30 am because he just didn't care. He also likes alcohol and has long been a member of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). He enjoys whisky as shown by the fact that he drank it in the House of Commons while delivering his budget.

He met his wife Gillian when they were at university together. He never bought her flowers, but took her out to pubs and discos which suited her just fine. Norman Fowler used to flirt with Gillian and in one instance at a 21st birthday party Ken and Norman nearly came to blows over her. Ken often goes on about how clever Gillian was, saying that if they hadn't got married she would have been a Cambridge Don in no time. The couple married in their twenties and stayed together until Gillian's death in 2015. The couple have two children - a son and a daughter - together.

Appearance

Ken is well known for his footwear. Since becoming an MP Ken has firmly stuck to the idea that hush puppies are the best shoes to ever exist and as such refuses to wear anything else. His fondness for a particular kind of footwear has brought him into comparison with Theresa May.

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Scandals

Ken was discovered to have flipped his home for the purposes of Council Tax arrangements during the Expenses Scandal in 2009.

In the 2013 Ken was also accused of sexually assaulting a male undercover reporter in the 1990s. The police investigated the claims but did not find any evidence to substantiate the allegations. The actor who accused Ken was later tried for perverting the course of justice by making false claims of sexual assault.

Ken also sometimes attends the Bilderberg Group meetings. He attended in 1993, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2012. In 2013 Ken answered an urgent question in the House of Commons on behalf of George Osborne regarding group and it's recent meeting. No one took the debate very seriously apart from the Speaker John Bercow who got very annoyed with Ken for calling Peter Mandelson by his name rather than his title. In his usual style, Ken did not give a fuck.

He also likes to fall asleep a lot as a signal that he just doesn't care. Places he has fallen asleep include cricket matches, the House of Commons and departmental committees.

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  In the House of Commons

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  At the cricket, without a shoe

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  At the cricket, with both shoes

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  At a very important talk

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  Caught in a committee room by Channel 4

Portrayal

In the Media

Ken's portrayal in the media has shifted throughout his career. In the early years he was seen as a young high-flier. The media's view of him depends largely on the particular news outlet's view on the EU.

In Fanon

Ken is generally liked by fandom for his no fucks given attitude and the fact that he keeps telling people how wrong they are. Since the fandom tends to skew lefty, he is one of the few Tories that fandom likes (most of the time).