Summary
Overview
Lord Ken Clarke, the veteran Conservative politician and former Chancellor, reflects on his half-century political career while offering scathing criticism of the current Labour government's performance. In conversation recorded at his Nottingham home, Clarke discusses the dangers facing British democracy, his time serving under Margaret Thatcher, the catastrophic decision to hold the Brexit referendum, and why he believes Rachel Reeves is struggling as Chancellor. Despite his disabilities and living alone in his ninth decade, Clarke maintains his obsessive interest in politics while expressing both pride in his extraordinary career and concern about the country's direction.
Political Career and the Changing Nature of Politics
Clarke traces his journey from a coal-mining village in Derbyshire to becoming one of Britain's most experienced politicians, serving continuously as a minister for 25 years under four prime ministers. He contrasts the deferential, policy-focused political culture of his early years in Parliament with today's media-obsessed, opinion poll-driven environment. The transformation from a class-based House of Commons featuring coal miners and knights of the shire to today's graduate-dominated chamber reflects broader changes in British society and political culture.
- Clarke was one of the first '11-plus boys' elected as Conservative MPs, part of a new generation changing the party's composition
- When first elected in 1970, there was no induction process - new MPs simply wandered in and figured things out themselves
- The House of Commons was genuinely powerful and governments were seriously accountable to backbenchers, unlike today's media-focused politics
- Clarke decided to become a Conservative at Cambridge because in the late 1950s, the Tories were the modernizing party while Labour was stuck in the post-war era
" I was following the Attlee government which is one of my great governments of my lifetime. I think it created the welfare state. By the time I was 7 or 8, I was reading my dad's newspaper following a staff at Cripps Budget. "
" In my primary school, a couple of us were asked to come out in front of the class, say what we were going to do when we grew up. My mate said he was going to be a lorry driver and I said I was going to be an MP rather to the amazement of my teacher. "
" I have been since I was a little boy in short trousers obsessively interested in politics. But you become too obsessive. It's absurd. You've got to take part in real life. "
Devastating Critique of the Current Labour Government
Clarke delivers a withering assessment of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, describing their first 18 months as a 'pretty terrible start' despite inheriting a dreadful situation from previous Conservative governments. He argues that Reeves made catastrophic choices in her first budget, particularly raising employers' national insurance, and has since compounded the error by conducting policy debates in public. When pressed, Clarke bluntly states he doesn't think Reeves is up to being Chancellor, while describing Starmer as lacking any political skills whatsoever despite being intelligent and decent.
- Clarke hoped Labour would succeed as a patriot wanting Britain's economy to improve, but has been badly disappointed by their performance
- Reeves' first budget was 'absolutely disastrous' - she borrowed billions more and chose the worst possible tax to raise
- Employers' national insurance tax has dried up the jobs market for school leavers and university graduates
- Clarke believes income tax, which Labour ruled out in their manifesto, is the fairest tax and should have been raised by a couple of pence
- The government lacks clear medium-term and long-term visions, unlike Clarke's approach of knowing where he wanted to be in two or three years
" I think they made the wrong choices of policy and they're too - they don't have clear medium term, long term visions. I was always rather combative and reforming politics and I knew where I was hoping to put relevant bits of my portfolio in two or three years time. "
" Rachel Reeves, I used to get into trouble before the election with some of my colleagues. I used to say nice things about Rachel Reeves who I thought looked quite promising as Shadow Chancellor. Her first budget was absolutely disastrous. "
" The honest truth is I don't think she is up to it, no. The two catastrophic things she's done are to make the wrong choice of taxation in the budget, to make no attempt to cut public spending, and now to run this absolute debate. "
" He's a very nice guy, he's an intelligent guy, Rachel's a very intelligent woman. He has absolutely no political skills whatever. I don't think he could sell an overcoat to an Eskimo. "
" It's no good thinking that she's being criticised because she's a woman. That is deceiving herself. She's being criticised because her first budget, all she did was borrow billions more and then the tax she chose to raise was the worst possible tax to choose. "
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