The life and times of Kenneth Clarke

[Music] the bloke is back back sitting on the front benches today three times Ken Clark tried to lead the Tories three times they slam the door in his face proof that in an economic crisis political parties really can bury their parts the time has come to stop enjoying myself on the back benches and get down to contributing preparing for government really very intelligent very articulate and convinced he was right pint in one hand big fat cigar in the other hand especially if there's no smoking sign over his shoulder cheerful rumbustious opinionated full of life immensely self-confident arrogantly so actually but because he has charm like Dennis Healey he gets away with it I was the only person who asked him to be his best man whose mother-in-law hadn't vetoed the proposition Kenneth Harry Clark son of a Nottingham watchmaker who won a scholarship to his local local public school and place at Cambridge there he met five future cabinet ministers he fell out with one when he invited Oswald Mosley to speak to the university conservative Association I did object to the notion that Oswell Mosley's visit should become an annual event and so I resigned from the committee of Cuca we stood against each other for the secretaryship of the Union um in a hotly contested uh election um so that was the that was the I suppose the first moment of competitive rivalry while studying Clark also embarked upon another relationship that would last him a lifetime I do remember occasional emotional Outburst if uh student board games went on for hours on end she would uh certainly COA him away fairly emphatically I don't think I can remember them exchanging crosswords really but she she she know she can certainly um circumscribe his activities if she's so minded yes absolutely Clark had a speedy political rise in Parliament by 29 he became a whip in Ted Heath's government two years later but Margaret fer would apply the breaks to his career Ken took until about 1985 or ' 86 to get cabinet Rank and that was demonstrably unfair and the reason for that uh was that Clark was a not ideological taste uh you know he wasn't a swiveled free marketeer uh and B he was a powerful character and a powerful political personality she was smart enough to see she couldn't promote him too soon he'd give her trouble but when he finally got into cabinet he proved himself an effective Minister I remember going into Department of trade and Industry and talking to my predecessor on the first day he want to give me some advice and said you know every Secretary of State coming into trade and Industry um they you know they've got the problem of regional policy ship building Rover and British steel and they all try and sort them out and they all fail and you'll fail too and within a year they privatized British steel they privatized British ship building and sold Rover promoted to health secretary Clark revolutionized the NHS introducing the internal market and gained a reputation for liking a [Music] fight I think he was um one of the great reforming Ministers of the Thatcher government he played a huge part in um reforming both health and education um he he certainly wasn't um shy of a battle or two Clark has never let High office stop him enjoying himself he likes late nights listening to Jazz how long you staying tonight uh half a Ministry of Defense tomorrow you're there later on night uh 1:00 and days out bird watching I am told that they were on holiday in in Cornwall once and uh Ken saw bird and said I said J what on Earth is that beautiful bird and she said Ken really you see those in the garden at home in Birmingham it's a blue [Music] tit Margaret F's departure from Downing Street came after she called on her cabinet to back her the Fatal night after she had beaten heseltine but not powerfully enough we were all tired i' been running the front page leave for the best part of a fortnite and it went on for another fortnite I went home at 9 or 10:00 early in those days and um because I'd heard she was seeing the cabinet one by one and I thought one one by one she'll break them but in fact one by one they said no Margaret it won't go we'll support you but you'll lose some of them wept it is said uh Ken didn't weep of course he's not the weepy type but he told her and you would have expected him to do it well Ken um I think he's made no secret of the fact thought that her time had come and and that it was it was time for her to go John Major's honeymoon was shortlived the pounds ejection from the European exchange rate mechanism divided his cabinet and way one of the most dramatic arguments we had was immediately after we um came out of the armm when um there was a big argument in cabinet about whether the state M that was made in the House of Commons that afternoon should say we wanted to re-enter the ERM at the earliest opportunity major sent Clark to the treasury he would Captain the British economy to sunnier Waters uh Mr Deputy speaker a politian presenting his first budgets rather like a lion tamer trying out his act for the first time but even that couldn't save the Tories from disaster [Music] Mr Clark offered himself as the leader capable of attracting back to the party the millions of Voters who switched to labor and the liberal Democrats crushing election defeat Ken Clark's leadership campaign is complete shambles wouldn't do the necessary Spade work not a team man in that sense in many ways he resembles Dennis Hy another loner another take me as you find me or you can all go and get lost despite the defeats David Cameron needs Ken Clark well I think you're going have to get the Snappers to go away with a Tory Victory likely soon he could be back in the driving [Music] seat

Channel: The Guardian

Views: 38,892

Keywords: the, guardian, conservatives, kenneth, clarke, politics, westminster

Id: 494qQH0ybrg

Length: 7min 30sec (450 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 06 2009