This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) |
The Lord Clark of Windermere | |
---|---|
Minister for the Cabinet Office Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
In office 2 May 1997 –27 July 1998 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Roger Freeman |
Succeeded by | Jack Cunningham |
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence | |
In office 18 July 1992 –2 May 1997 | |
Leader | John Smith Margaret Beckett (Acting) Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Martin O'Neill |
Succeeded by | John Major |
Shadow Minister of Agriculture,Fisheries and Food | |
In office 13 July 1987 –18 July 1992 | |
Leader | Neil Kinnock |
Preceded by | Roger Freeman |
Succeeded by | Jack Cunningham |
Member of Parliament for South Shields | |
In office 3 May 1979 –14 May 2001 | |
Preceded by | Arthur Blenkinsop |
Succeeded by | David Miliband |
Member of Parliament for Colne Valley | |
In office 18 June 1970 –8 February 1974 | |
Preceded by | Richard Wainwright |
Succeeded by | Richard Wainwright |
Personal details | |
Born | Castle Douglas,United Kingdom | 19 October 1939
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater | Victoria University of Manchester University of Sheffield |
David George Clark,Baron Clark of Windermere [1] PC DL (born 19 October 1939) [2] is a British Labour Party politician,former cabinet minister and author.
Clark was born in Castle Douglas,Scotland. He attended Bowness Elementary School and Windermere Grammar School in Cumbria. After leaving school,he worked as a forester and then as a laboratory assistant in a textile mill before becoming a student teacher in 1959.[ citation needed ]
Clark attended the University of Manchester as a mature student from 1960,gaining a BA in Economics,then later an M.Sc. He was President of the Students' Union. In 1978,he gained a PhD from the University of Sheffield.[ citation needed ]
He was a lecturer in Government and Administration at the University of Salford from 1965 to 1970 and a tutor at University of Manchester from 1967 to 1970.[ citation needed ]
Clark joined the Labour Party in 1959 and the Co-operative Party two years later. He stood unsuccessfully for Manchester Withington at the 1966 General Election,being defeated by the incumbent Conservative,Sir Robert Cary.[ citation needed ]
He was first elected as a member of parliament (MP) for Colne Valley which he represented from 1970 to 1974. After losing in the February 1974 general election,he became a senior lecturer in Politics at Huddersfield Polytechnic (now the University of Huddersfield) until 1979 when he returned to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for South Shields in Tyne and Wear which he held until he stood down at the 2001 general election.[ citation needed ]
Clark was regularly elected to the Shadow Cabinet while the Labour Party was in opposition. He held a number of Shadow portfolios,including Agriculture Fisheries &Food (1972–1974),Defence (1980–81),Food Agricultural and Rural Affairs (1987–1992),and Shadow Defence Secretary (1992–1997). Although he was not a strong supporter of New Labour,he did support Tony Blair's bid for the party leadership in 1994.
Clark's long-standing position as a member of Labour's frontbench team meant Blair was obliged to appoint him to the Cabinet when the party was elected to government in May 1997. However,he was not given a senior or middle-ranking position,and instead was given the office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,with responsibility for producing a White Paper on Freedom of Information which was published in July 1998 and ultimately led to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [3]
Clark opposed moves to water down the freedom of information proposals from what had been proposed by Labour in Opposition,and this led to his sacking. At the time,he said that he believed his sacking was also because of his insistence on living in the North-East and "missing out on the London cocktail circuit". Additionally,Blair's sacking of Clark and another "old Labour" figure,Gavin Strang,was part of a plan by Blair to bring two Liberal Democrats into the Cabinet,a plan thwarted by John Prescott and others (though it is highly likely the Liberal Democrats would not have accepted the plan anyway had it become public). [4]
Heavily involved and interested in Bosnia,Clark was forced to apologise for not declaring a 1993 meeting with Radovan Karadžić in the Register of Members' Interests,as he "thought it had been a United Nations-funded trip".
Two years later,on 23 October 2000,Clark stood for the job of Speaker of the House of Commons in succession to Betty Boothroyd but was unsuccessful (192 votes in favour,257 against) and his backbench colleague,Michael Martin was elected.
Clark sought reselection by the South Shields Constituency Labour Party to contest the 2001 general election for the seat. However,control of the constituency Party had swung in favour of a vocal group of critics,led by a faction within South Tyneside Council,who feared Clark actually intended to stand down when the General Election was called,thus enabling the Labour Party's National Executive Committee to parachute a favoured candidate into the Constituency[ citation needed ],historically a safe Labour seat. During the reselection contest Clark vigorously denied the claims and told the Shields Gazette newspaper advising he had every intention of contesting the general election[ citation needed ]. In the event,he won reselection thanks to the support of regional trade union barons.
When Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the date of the general election in 2001,Clark immediately stood down and the Labour Party NEC moved swiftly,New Labour rising star David Miliband was selected to fight the seat. Miliband,an Oxford graduate from London,was seen locally as a parachute candidate.[ citation needed ]
Within weeks of the Labour Party winning the 2001 general election,Clark was created a life peer on 2 July 2001 as Baron Clark of Windermere,of Windermere in the County of Cumbria [5] and now sits in the House of Lords. He was also appointed to the paid post of chairman of the Forestry Commission.
Clark's ongoing political interests include Bosnia,open spaces,hunting and bloodsports (to which he is opposed),defence and the environment.
He was awarded Freedom of the Borough of South Tyneside in February 1999,and is a long-standing fan of Carlisle United Football Club,of which he is a director. He served as a deputy lieutenant of Cumbria from 2007 to 2014. Clark was chair of the Atlantic Council of the UK (1998–2003),and has been Leader of the North Atlantic Assembly since 2001,having been a member since 1980. He was a member of the executive of the National Trust from 1980 until 1994. He was chair of the Forestry Commission from 2004 to 2009;a non-executive director of the Homeowners Friendly Society,the Thales Group,and the UK Friendly Insurance Services. He is a trustee of the Vindolanda Trust,the History of Parliament Trust,and the Gravetye Trust,and a patron of the UK Defence Forum. He chairs the Lake District National Park Partnership.
He married Christine Kirkby,in 1970 and they have one daughter and one son,Catherine and Thomas. He lives in Windermere,and lists his recreations as gardening,fell walking,reading,and watching football. He is a director of Carlisle United Football Club.
Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003.
Dame Margaret Mary Beckett is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. A member of the Labour Party,she became Britain's first female Foreign Secretary in 2006 and served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Tony Blair throughout his tenure. Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994,Beckett briefly served as Leader of the Opposition and Acting Leader of the Labour Party following John Smith's death in 1994.
Charles Leslie Falconer,Baron Falconer of Thoroton,is a British Labour peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007.
Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr,13th Marquess of Lothian,Baron Kerr of Monteviot,,commonly known as Michael Ancram,is a British politician and peer who served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2005. He was formerly styled Earl of Ancram until he inherited the marquessate in 2004.
John Anderson Cunningham,Baron Cunningham of Felling,PC,DL is a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament for over 30 years,serving for Whitehaven from 1970 to 1983 and then Copeland until the 2005 general election,and had served in the Cabinet of Tony Blair.
Nicholas Hugh Brown is a British Independent politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne East since 1983,making him the fifth longest serving MP in the House of Commons. He is the longest serving Chief Whip of the Labour Party,holding the position in three separate periods under six Labour leaders –Tony Blair,Gordon Brown,Harriet Harman,Ed Miliband,Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer. He also held several ministerial positions whilst his party was in government from 1997 until 2010. On 26 May 2021,Brown was elected as chair of the Finance Committee. Brown sits in the House of Commons as an independent,having had the whip removed in September 2022,triggered by an investigation into undisclosed matters affecting his Labour membership.
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Co-op politician who has served as the 8th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association since August 2020. He served as Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005,and for Liverpool West Derby from 2010 to 2019.
Sir Alan Campbell is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tynemouth since 1997. He was appointed as Chief Whip of the Labour Party in May 2021.
Sir Thomas Anthony Cunningham is a British politician who served as member of parliament (MP) for Workington from 2001 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party,he was Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Cumbria and Lancashire North from 1994 to 1999.
Wayne David MP is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Caerphilly since 2001. A member of the Labour Party,he was Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party from 1994 to 1998 and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1999. As an MEP,he represented South Wales from 1989 to 1994 and South Wales Central from 1994 to 1999.
John Healey is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wentworth and Dearne,formerly Wentworth,since 1997. A member of the Labour Party,he has been Shadow Secretary of State for Defence since 2020.
Richard James Baker is a Scottish Labour politician and former member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region. He was first elected in the 2003 general election,when he was the youngest sitting MSP. He is a former member of Labour's Shadow Cabinet in the Scottish Parliament having served as the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance.
In British politics,a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.
Ray Edward Harry Collins,Baron Collins of Highbury is a British politician and trade unionist serving as a Member of the House of Lords since 2011. A member of the Labour Party,he has been Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords since 2021. Collins served as General Secretary of the Labour Party from 2008 to 2011,and has held several opposition front bench posts in the Lords since 2011.
Jonathan Cruddas is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dagenham and Rainham since 2010,and formerly for Dagenham between 2001 and 2010.
David Wright Miliband is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields in North East England from 2001 to 2013. He and his brother,Ed,were the first siblings to sit in the Cabinet simultaneously since Lord Edward and Oliver Stanley in 1938. He was a candidate for Labour Party leadership in 2010,following the departure of Gordon Brown,but was defeated by his brother and subsequently left politics.
John Matthew Patrick Hutton,Baron Hutton of Furness,is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrow and Furness from 1992 to 2010 and served in a number of Cabinet offices,including Defence Secretary and Business Secretary. He is a former Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute.
The Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) elected 19 members of the Shadow Cabinet from among their number in 2010. This follows the Labour Party's defeat at the 2010 general election,after which the party formed the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom.
The 2001 Dissolution Honours List was gazetted on 2 June 2001 prior to the General Election of the same year by the Prime Minister,Tony Blair.
The third Blair ministry lasted from May 2005 to June 2007. The election on 5 May 2005 saw Labour win a historic third successive term in power,though their majority now stood at 66 seats –compared to 167 four years earlier –and they failed to gain any new seats. Blair had already declared that the new term in parliament would be his last.