Kenneth Clarke

The Right Honourable The Lord Clarke of Nottingham CH KC PC
Official portrait, 2017
Secretary of State for Justice Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
In office 12 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Jack Straw
Succeeded by	Chris Grayling
Minister without Portfolio
In office 4 September 2012 – 14 July 2014
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	The Baroness Warsi
Succeeded by	Robert Halfon (2015)
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 27 May 1993 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Norman Lamont
Succeeded by	Gordon Brown
Home Secretary
In office 10 April 1992 – 27 May 1993
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Kenneth Baker
Succeeded by	Michael Howard
Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 2 November 1990 – 10 April 1992
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	John MacGregor
Succeeded by	John Patten (Education)
Secretary of State for Health
In office 25 July 1988 – 2 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	John Moore (Social Services)
Succeeded by	William Waldegrave
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 13 July 1987 – 25 July 1988
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Norman Tebbit
Succeeded by	Tony Newton
Ministerial offices 1974–1987 Minister of State for Trade and Industry In office 13 July 1987 – 25 July 1988 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Giles Shaw Succeeded by Eric Forth Paymaster General In office 2 September 1985 – 13 July 1987 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by John Gummer Succeeded by Peter Brooke Minister of State for Employment In office 2 September 1985 – 13 July 1987 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Peter Morrison Succeeded by John Cope Minister of State for Health In office 5 March 1982 – 2 September 1985 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by Gerard Vaughan Succeeded by Barney Hayhoe Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport[a] In office 7 May 1979 – 5 March 1982 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by John Horam Succeeded by Lynda Chalker Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In office 8 January 1974 – 4 March 1974 Prime Minister Edward Heath Preceded by Hugh Rossi Succeeded by Donald Coleman
Shadow Cabinet posts Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills In office 19 January 2009 – 11 May 2010 Leader David Cameron Preceded by Alan Duncan (Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) Succeeded by Pat McFadden Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer In office 2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997 Leader John Major Preceded by Gordon Brown Succeeded by Peter Lilley
Parliamentary offices Father of the House of Commons In office 26 February 2017 – 6 November 2019 Speaker John Bercow Lindsay Hoyle Preceded by Gerald Kaufman Succeeded by Peter Bottomley Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal as a life peer 17 September 2020 Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe In office 18 June 1970 – 6 November 2019 Preceded by Antony Gardner Succeeded by Ruth Edwards
Personal details
Born	Kenneth Harry Clarke (1940-07-02) 2 July 1940 (age 84) Langley Mill, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Gillian Edwards ​ ​ (m. 1964; died 2015)​
Children	2
Alma mater	Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (BA, LLB)

Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham, CH, PC, KC (born 2 July 1940)^[1] is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997. 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.

Clarke served in the Cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1987 to 1988, Health Secretary from 1988 to 1990, and Education Secretary from 1990 to 1992. He held two of the Great Offices of State as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He contested the Conservative Party leadership three times—in 1997, 2001 and 2005—being defeated each time. Opinion polls indicated he was more popular with the general public than with his party, whose generally Eurosceptic stance did not chime with his pro-European views. Under the coalition government of David Cameron, he returned to the Cabinet as Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor from 2010 to 2012 and Minister without Portfolio from 2012 to 2014. He was also the United Kingdom Anti-Corruption Champion from 2010 to 2014.

The Conservative whip was withdrawn from him in September 2019 because he and 20 other MPs voted with the Opposition on a motion; for the remainder of his time in Parliament he sat as an independent, though still on the government benches. He stood down as an MP at the 2019 general election and was thereafter made a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords in 2020.^[2]

Clarke is President of the Conservative Europe Group, Co-President of the pro-EU body British Influence and Vice-President of the European Movement UK.^[3] Described by the press as a 'Big Beast' of British politics, his total time as a minister is the fifth-longest in the modern era. He has spent over 20 years serving under Prime Ministers Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron. He was one of only five ministers (Tony Newton, Malcolm Rifkind, Patrick Mayhew and Lynda Chalker are the others) to serve throughout the whole 18 years of the Thatcher–Major governments, which represents the longest uninterrupted ministerial service in Britain since Lord Palmerston in the early 19th century.

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