Kenneth Clarke

Kenneth Clarke ( born July 2, 1940 in West Bridgford, Nottingham ) is a British politician of the Conservative Party. He currently belongs to the Cameron government as Minister without Portfolio.

Life

After leaving school at Nottingham High School Clarke studied law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

While studying Clarke was a member of the Conservative Party. In 1970 he won the constituency Rushcliffe, south of Nottingham, the deputy seat in the British House of Commons, after he had failed in the elections 1964 and 1966 in the electoral district of Mansfield. Clarke was from 1979 to 1997 in the cabinet of Margaret Thatcher and John Major as Prime operates. From 1993 to 1997 Clarke was Chancellor of the Exchequer. After the electoral defeat of the Conservative Party in 1997 Clarke was in opposition politically active in the British House of Commons. With three internal party election campaigns for the presidency of the Conservative Party was defeated Clarke respectively 1997, 2001 and 2005. Yet his internal party opponents David Cameron appointed him in January 2009 as a member of his shadow cabinet.

Clarke is one of the most prominent One Nation Conservative within his party; He has been President of the Tory Reform Group since 1997. Clarke is President of the Conservative Europe Group and Vice President of the European Movement UK. His pro-European stance brought Clarke to conflict with another Conservative Party members of the Conservative Party and is considered a contributing cause for his candidacy defeats to the party chairmanship.

From May 2010 to September 2012 he served in the Cameron government, the office of Lord Chancellor and Minister of Justice.

Clarke is married to Gillian Edwards since November 1964. The couple has two children.