Ken Clarke

Ken Clarke as Justice Secretary

Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham (born 2 July 1940) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997 as well as serving as deputy chair of British American Tobacco from 1998 to 2007. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rushcliffe from 1970 to 2019 and was Father of the House of Commons between 2017 and 2019. The President of the Tory Reform Group since 1997, he is a one-nation conservative who identifies with economically and socially liberal views.

Quotes

1990s

• I don't think the Conservative Party could win an election in 1,000 years on this ultra right-wing programme.
  • Said during the 1995 Conservative leadership election of John Redwood, the challenger to John Major. Quoted in the Independent on 27 June 1995. Macintyre, Donald (27 June 1995) PM assails 'malcontent' Redwood in the Independent. Retrieved 1 July 2019.

2000s

• We are all in agreement about the principles of the national health service ...it should be provided free at the point of treatment, according to clinical need and largely funded out of taxation.
  • Speech in the House of Commons (11 October 2006) in a debate on NHS workforce and service development.

2010s

• The referendum is not binding.
  • Written in a letter to constituents after the 2016 EU referendum and quoted in the Guardian. Asthana, Anushka and Mason, Rowena (13 September 2016) Ken Clarke tells constituents: 'EU referendum is not binding' in the Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2019.

• All political careers are a rollercoaster.
  • Said in an interview with the Guardian's Esther Addley, 5 February 2017. Addley, Esther (5 February 2017) Ken Clarke on Brexit: ‘I’ve never seen anything as mad or chaotic as this’ in the Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2019.

• When we negotiate trade agreements in the future, we will be pressing other countries to open up their public procurement processes to genuine, fair, international competition. It would be totally ridiculous to abandon that principle now to give into not only constituency pressures, which I understand, but otherwise nationalist nonsense that ought to be ignored.
  • Speech in the House of Commons (26 March 2018) on the awarding of the contract for the production of new UK passports to Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto

• If a Brexiteer majority still wishes to persist in leaving, once we have made some progress and it’s obvious we’re getting there, you can invoke Article 50 again and leave fairly rapidly. To me, that seems the only rational way in which we can precede. But common sense has gone out of the window.
  • Said in an interview with Politico, 31 December 2018 on the revoking of Article 50 to allow time for preparation of the UK's exit of the European Union. McTague, Tom (31 December 2018) Ken Clarke: My ‘complacent’ generation sowed seeds of populism in Politico. Retrieved 1 July 2019.

• [On Margaret Thatcher] She was a bizarre character. She was one of the most unlikely human beings I ever met.
  If you'd told me that this woman would become Prime Minister, I mean no dislike of her at all, I'd have thought that was ridiculous.
  • Interviewed in the documentary television series Thatcher: A Very British Revolution (BBC), as cited by Victoria Ward in "Michael Heseltine: I didn't think Margaret Thatcher was leadership material", The Telegraph (18 May 2019)

• I don’t want the new leader to make me parliamentary under-secretary for nuts and bolts.
  • Said in an interview with the Guardian's Peter Walker, 27 June 2019. Walker, Peter (27 June 2019) Veteran Tory MP Ken Clarke: 'I'm minded to step down now' in the Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2019. On his freedom to choose a leader in the 2019 Conservative leadership election because of his lack of aspiration for a ministerial post.

• At the moment I save the House of Commons from having Dennis Skinner as father of the house by 25 minutes
  • Said in an interview with the Guardian's Peter Walker, 27 June 2019. Walker, Peter (27 June 2019) Ken Clarke: a parliamentary career spanning nearly 50 years in the Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2019.

• If the Conservative Party cannot think of anything else to do it has a leadership contest.
  • Said on Any Questions? on 5 July 2019 and quoted by The Express. Weston, Katie (5 July 2019) Crowd erupts as Ken Clarke warns Hammond will have to resign - 'Feel sorry for him' in the Express. Retrieved 8 July 2019.

• I wouldn't reject it if it was the only way forward.
  • Said in a Radio 4 interview on 16 August 2019 and quoted by the BBC. Ken Clarke: I wouldn't rule out becoming prime minister Retrieved 16 August 2019. On being suggested as the leader of a Government of National Unity by Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson.

• No one has officially told me that I have lost the Tory whip. The fault’s probably mine. I’m notorious for only using my mobile phone for outgoing calls: nobody knows my London number and I certainly don’t do anything online. So there may somewhere be an email or text message or something telling me, but I gather from the media that there’s no doubt that I’ve lost the whip. My status otherwise is completely unclear.
  • Said after Clarke voted against the government on the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill 2017-19. Boris Johnson had promised to remove the Conservative whip from those who rebelled. Quoted by the Guardian. Ken Clarke: ‘I’m not sure yet, but I may protest and vote Lib Dem’ (7 September 2019)