Ken Clarke
Ken Clarke

Member of Parliament, QC

 

Kenneth Clarke has been the Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe since 1970. He held several Ministerial offices in the Governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major - as Secretary of State for Health, Secretary of State for Education and Science, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. During a period in opposition he combined his duties as an MP with a variety of business appointments and chaired the Conservatives' Democracy Task Force and as Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. On the Conservatives' return to Government in 2010 he served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.

In 2014 he became Minister without Portfolio, working to develop key trade relationships on the Prime Minister's behalf. He had an advisory brief on the economy and also sat on the National Security Council. He returned to the back benches in July 2014.