On 11 March 2013,Clarke announced that he had joined the Green Party,and would campaign as an Independent Green and stand as a Green Party candidate in the 2013 local elections. Clarke is a local community activist in Northampton and is currently employed teaching public Services at Northampton College.
At the 2001 general election,Clarke held the seat with a majority of 885 votes over the Conservative candidate Shailesh Vara. However,Conservative Brian Binley took the seat with a majority of 4,419 at the May 2005 general election.
Clarke was regarded as a rebel and an anti-war MP. Despite his stance against the invasion of Iraq,on receiving a copy of a confidential memo between Prime Minister of the United KingdomTony Blair,and US PresidentGeorge W. Bush,he chose to report the leak to the police rather than publicly expose what was said.[2][3] From 2003 to 2005 he chaired the Northern Ireland Select Committee during the suspension of the NI Assembly.
Labour expulsion and independent councillor
In May 2007,he was chosen by Northampton Labour Party to stand in the safe Labour Castle ward for the 3 May local elections. The decision created a split between the local Labour Party and the Labour party nationally and regionally,and the reasons have never been clear. It is speculated that the regional and national party forced Clarke out and selected their own candidate Tess Scott on an all women short list against the local party's wishes and outside of the Labour Party rules. They then selected Clarke and had three candidates for a two-member ward before telling him he could not stand. As a result,Clarke decided to stand as an Independent and fight against the official Labour Party candidate in Castle ward,a decision which resulted in his expulsion from the Labour Party. Castle was a two-member ward but unusually Labour could only field one candidate.
Eight other local Labour members were also expelled;including Clarke's running mate in the election,Peter Evans,also a previous Borough Councillor;John Dickie,a former Labour leader of the borough council;and a second former Labour leader of the borough council,Geoff Howes. Howes had also been a mayor of the town who,not long before,had been elected by the then controlling Labour party as a Freeman of the Borough.
Clark won the Castle seat on Northampton Borough Council.[4][5] Out of 47 councillors on the borough council,Labour ended up with only 5 seats,the Conservatives 15,and Clarke as the sole independent. The Liberal Democrats took control with 26 seats,the first time for about 80 years since the Liberals were last in control. Clarke lost his seat at the May 2011 election to Labour,though the Conservatives regained control of the council.
Re-instatement
In December 2008,Howes expulsion was reversed and he was reinstated two days before his appeal was due to be heard by the Labour Party's National Executive Committee (NEC). He was selected as the Labour candidate for a Northampton Borough Council by-election to be held 22 January 2009.[6] However,no official announcement was made by the local party on the status of Clarke or the other two candidates,Evans and Dickie,previously expelled. Dickie was Clarke's election agent at the 2010 general election where Clarke came fourth with 5.8% of the vote,being one of only a small handful of Independents nationally to save their deposit.[7]
2009 Northampton Borough Council by-election
In January 2009,Howes stood as a Labour candidate in a borough council by-election finishing a distant second to the Conservatives. Howes' selection was without the prior knowledge of the group's leader on the council. A row subsequently erupted when Clarke appeared in Labour by-election literature,endorsing the party's candidate. This resulted in Howes and election agent Anjona Roy also being expelled.[8] Howes died in December 2014 aged 67.[9]
2009 and 2013 Northants County Council elections
The voters in Castle ward in the centre of Northampton picked Clarke to represent them on the county council at 4 June 2009 County Council elections. Clarke now represented the Castle ward as an independent on both Northampton borough and Northamptonshire county councils. At the count he was observed to have been congratulated by his old Labour colleagues Dickie and Howes (see above).[10] He beat the official Labour candidate into second place in what is normally a solid Labour county council division.[11] In September 2009,the national Labour Party suspended Northampton South Constituency Labour Party. The local paper reported that the move was made after Clarke was featured in local Labour literature given out during the January by-election.[12]
In August 2008,Clarke stated that he would stand against Labour as an independent at the next parliamentary election for Northampton South Constituency and did so on 6 May 2010. He polled fourth with 2,242 votes,behind the three main parties' candidates,and avoiding losing his deposit. His campaign cost over £8,000.[13] He lost his borough seat to Labour in 2011.[14] The boundary of the constituency changed for the 2010 election with the loss of some parts of the southern and western areas to the Daventry and the new South Northamptonshire constituency. The areas lost were generally considered Conservative,thus increasing the possibility of Labour regaining the seat. However,it remained firmly Conservative with Clarke's intervention,having an effect on the Labour vote.
Labour's choice of official candidate was announced in November 2008 as Clyde Loakes,who was born and brought up in Northamptonshire,and who went on to become leader of Waltham Forest council in north-east London.[15][16] Loakes was absent for much of the campaign. Northampton Borough Council member for West Hunsbury 2007–2011,Paul Varnsverry was selected in October 2008 as the Liberal Democrat's prospective parliamentary candidate for Northampton South which was won by the Conservatives.[17]
2015 general election
Clarke stood for election again in Northampton,this time changing his constituency to Northampton North and as a Green Party candidate. He achieved 1,503 votes (3.8%) beating the Liberal Democrat candidate Angela Patterson (3.6%). The seat was held by ConservativeMichael Ellis,who received 16,699 votes (42.4%). His old Labour colleague Sally Keeble achieved second place with a 34.1% share of the votes.[18]
He wrongly claimed that a company backed by City financier Nathaniel Rothschild had been funding terrorists.[19]
Related Research Articles
Daventry is a constituency in Northamptonshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Stuart Andrew of the Conservative Party.
Kettering is a constituency in Northamptonshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Rosie Wrighting of the Labour Party.
Northampton South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Mike Reader,representing the Labour Party.
Northampton North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lucy Rigby,a member of Labour. The constituency is a considered a bellwether,as it has reflected the national result at every general election since it was created in February 1974.
Wellingborough and Rushden is a constituency in Northamptonshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The seat is currently held by Labour MP Gen Kitchen,after the recall of MP Peter Bone in December 2023 which resulted in a by-election in February 2024.
Dr Kenneth George Hutchison Ritchie is a British psephologist and former Labour and Co-operative councillor. He was the chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society from 1997 until 26 June 2010,and a member of the board from 2012 to 2019.
This article lists the British National Party's election results in the UK parliamentary,Scottish parliamentary and Welsh Assembly elections,as well as in the European Parliament elections and at a local level.
Sir Michael Tyrone Ellis is a British politician and barrister who served as Attorney General for England and Wales between September and October 2022,having previously served in the position from March to September 2021 during the maternity leave of Suella Braverman. A member of the Conservative Party,he previously served as Paymaster General from 2021 to 2022 and as Minister for the Cabinet Office from February to September 2022. Ellis served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton North from 2010 to 2024.
The 2008 Sunderland Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council in Tyne and Wear,England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2010 Sunderland Council election took place on 6 May 2010 to elect members of Sunderland Metropolitan Borough Council in Tyne and Wear,England. One third of the council was up for election and the Labour Party stayed in overall control of the council. The election took place on the same day as the 2010 General Election.
The 2012 Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council election took on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council in England,as part of the 2012 United Kingdom local elections. 22 seats,representing one third of the total Council membership,were up for election in single-member wards. Ten - nearly half - of the members elected were newcomers to the Council;five of these defeated sitting Councillors seeking re-election,whilst in the other five wards,the incumbent retired. Two incumbents stood under different labels to those they were elected under in 2008;both were defeated in their wards.
Andrew Iain Lewer is a British Conservative Party politician,who served as the Member of Parliament for Northampton South from 2017 to 2024,and as Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands from 2014 to 2017.
The 2015 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 7 May 2015,the same day as the general election for the House of Commons.
The 2008 Castle Point Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Castle Point Borough Council in Essex,England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2012 Castle Point Borough Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of Castle Point Borough Council in Essex,England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2014 Castle Point Borough Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Castle Point Borough Council in Essex,England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party lost overall control of the council to no overall control.
The 2015 Cheshire West and Chester Council election took place on 7 May 2015,electing members of Cheshire West and Chester Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections across the country as well as the general election.
The 2015 Christchurch Borough Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of Christchurch Borough Council in Dorset,England. The whole council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council.
The 2022 Waltham Forest London Borough Council election was on 5 May 2022. All 60 members of Waltham Forest London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom. the Labour Party maintained its control of the council,winning 47 out of the 60 seats with the Conservative Party forming the council opposition with the remaining 13 seats.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
