Monday 14 January 2008

Charles Clarke - A Tale of Two Pizzas





Few political nicknames are are very kind. Charles Clarke, from his rotund shape clearly has a healthy appetite. Whether he is capable of demolishing two pizzas at one sitting is pure conjecture. Apparently the soubriquet was given by Charlie Whelan, Gordon Brown adviser from the late 90s - they were certainly at a Pizza Express where Clarke made some negative remarks about the Iron Chancellor. Whelan's revenge was to give the press a nickname to savour (with extra toppings).

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Clarke has been around longer than most people realise. When you think of the post-war speeches which really had any impact on the history of politics, few can compare with Neil Kinnock's attack on Militant at Labour Conference in 1985. Charles Clarke wrote this speech. The most memorable part must be the reference to Liverpool Council under Derek Hatton - "then the grotesque chaos of a Labour council - a Labour council - hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers. You can't play politics with people's lives and people's jobs." If you can trace the seminal moment of the decline of the Tory party from Geoffrey Howe's denunciation of Thatcher, so you can follow the rise of Labour from Kinnock's speech.

At Cambridge University (read Maths) in the mid seventies he became President of the National Union of Students. He was very active and travelled extensively - it is said his Spanish accent sounds has a very distinctve Cuban twang. Later Clarke was elected a Councillor in Hackney and was chair of Housing Committee. From the early eighties, Charles Clarke was the unassuming, bearded chap who with Peter Mandelson and John Reid formed Kinnock's cabal. Between them they took Labour far from Michael Foot's donkey jacket and flying pickets at Orgreave. Labour's communications strategy for the 1987 election was miles ahead of the Tory's but people still recall the Saachi campaigns more clearly.

But failure to win the 1992 election (plucking defeat from the jaws of victory) did for Kinnock and saw the break-up of his backroom team headed by Clarke. Blame for defeat is often put on Kinnock's speech at the pre-election Sheffield rally where Neil seemed to be smugly anticipating victory. In reality the public were hardly aware of it, its significance has increased over time.

Clarke did a bit of political consultancy during the days of John Smith and by the time Blair took over 1997 had eyed the marginal seat of Norwich South.

(Over the last 50 years the constituency has fluctuated between Conservative and Labour. Its only previous MP with much profile is Dr Thomas Stuttaford, Tory member in Heath's Govt of 1970-74. He is still Times medical columnist, known as Thomas Utterfraud in Private Eye. The Doctor's professional noteriety is based on his promotion of alcohol in complementing a healthy outlook on life. Clarke himself may agree.)

Clarke had adjusted to the Blairist 'third way' in his brief wilderness years and soon became viewed as a dependable, talented and persuasive Minister. Although the picture below illustrates his gruff public face.

I met him on several occasions in an official capacity when he was Minister of State in the Home Office, responsible for policing. The first physical feature you notice is his extra-ordinary elephant ears. And he's a big lad, clearly not unknown to the inside of a pub. But overall he was very genial, serious and respectful. Ministers often find this approach pays dividends, the hysterical, rude and arrogant Minister often finds officials going missing at critical events.

Clarke made it to Cabinet in 2002 as Secretary of State for Education and trod the same route as Blunkett from Education to Home Secretary. Like the present Home Secretary, he immediately ordered a review of cannabis in the forlorn hope of providing clarity to the public on the issue.

He was universally praised for his professional handling of the aftermath the 7 July attacks in London. Although the Commons defeat of his subsequent proposal for 90-day detention for terrorist suspects was probably his low point. But just being Home Secretary means you are responsible for many administration disasters which you have no control over. Calls for your resignation are an occupational hazard and you can usually hold on so long until the disaster has a significant impact on the perception of Government's general competence.

Clarke was unfortunate to be Home Sec when a thousand foreign prisoners were released instead of being deported. Blair was not persuaded the crisis would blow over, the charge of incompetence too great. It is rumoured he was offered Defence but wanted the Foreign Office.

Since he left the front bench, Clarke has hit the headlines over the handover to Gordon Brown. He gave a somewhat eccentric interview to the London Evening Standard last year. Sipping red wine, he called Gordon "bloody stupid" in the way he had handled the Blair transition. He called the future PM "deluded""uncollegiate" and "a control freak." And yet GB still made PM.

At 57, Charles Clarke still has a lot to offer and would still make a first class Cabinet Minister. But Gordon is unlikely to invite such dissenting voices back to the core of Government. I would be suprised if he stayed a backbencher beyond the next election. He still has time to achieve much more beyond Westminster.

Tuesday 8 January 2008

John Gummer - formerly known as Selwyn


When I was looking for a house in Suffolk a few years ago and my agent suggested a property near Debenham. While we briefly surveyed the thoroughly unsuitable property, the agent let slip the next door neighbour was John Gummer. I think he hoped it would be a good selling point- apparently my expression could have defined the word 'aghast'.

John Gummer seems to have been around longer than pollution. He was one of the Tory Mafia at Cambridge University (Selwyn College) in the late fifties where his contempories included Ken Clarke, Norman Lamont, Leon Brittan, Michael Howard. Although others impressed more John 'Selwyn' Gummer was first of the 'Mob' to be elected to Parliament in June 1970 when he took the seat of Lewisham West. While seeking a suitable seat 'Gums' penned the curiously titled book "When the Coloured People Come." No-one can trace a copy but I would be suprised if the message of the book was "I'm relaxed about immigration, I'm sure everthing's going to be fine."

John got kicked out of Parliament in 74 when Labour returned to power. He arrived back on Margaret Thatcher's Tory wave of 79 and has been there ever since. After a couple of years in the whips office he became an Employment Minster and remained on the front bench for 16 years. Few can boast such record - a point his website (http://www.johngummer.org.uk/) celebrates with unrestrained pride.

His highest profile moments include both the harsh and silly ends of political experience. He was Conservative Party Chairman when the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1985. As Secretary of State for Agriculture he was photographed seemingly forcefeeding his young daughter, Cordelia a 'dog' burger at the outset of the BSE outbreak.

In 1992 he left the Church of England in protest to the ordination of women priests and joined the catholic priests. Many a catholic I knew responded in the same way, "Oh, Christ, we don't want him."

He's 68 now still MP for Suffolk Coastal with his Ministerial career firmly behind him. To some MPs it would be tempting to treat the job as something of a sinecure. However speaking to peopIe locally I get the distinct impression JG is quite a good constituency MP.

Sarah Lomas, of Saxmundham describes herself as a " very unlikley supporter of John Gummer". However when Brook Farm Playgroup was certain to close John stepped in to shake up the County Council. He rubbed backs and pulled knobs and the Playgroup was saved. Sarah chokes on her socialist principles when she describes Johnny as 'top man'

He is often out and about in my home town of Woodbridge. I cannot claim to be closely familiar with fashion but John seems to be one of the worst dressed men in England. I think you could call his style Country Effected.

Cameron has made good use of JG's considerable experience and put him to work on the policy document on the environment. The Shadow Chancellor, George Osbourne had spoken about proposals to introduce punitive green taxes on those taking 2-3 flights a year. This was not just politically risky but potentially suicidal - Brown et al need only repeat ad nauseum the phrase 'holiday tax' and look forward to another term of Government. Under Gummer the idea, such as it was, has been so watered down it has ceased to exist.

He shows no sign of stopping, eventhough I feel sure the title Lord Gummer of Debenham awaits any time he likes.

Welcome to Blog on East Anglia's MPs.

This blog is dedicted to the work of the mixed bunch of MPs we have in East Anglia. For the purposes of simplicity it will cover Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. As you may have guessed some are more active than others. This blog will monitor their activities, contributions to Parliament, publicly expressed concerns and of course any gossip.

Our region cannot claim to be very representative politically of the country as a whole, generally speaking it is a swathe of blue will some splashes of red and three dots of Lib-Dem yellow. But it has at least its fair share of high profile opposition Members as well as a few Ministers.

This blog will include some profiles of the most prominent beginning with my own MP, for Suffolk Coastal, Rt.Hon. John Gummer.