In the almost 40 years I have known Ken Clarke he doesn’t seem to have changed a bit, although of course he has: older, greyer, redder of countenance, a little more rotund, but his appearance still belies his 74 years. His career stands as testimony to the simple truth, in politics as in much else, that temperament and sheer stamina – physical and mental – are the key to survival.
“Resilience” is another way to sum it up. Denied the promotions that his talent deserved by Margaret Thatcher, he was later defeated three times for the Conservative leadership – much to the relief of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – and has seen his brand of liberal, pro-European Toryism pushed to the margins of David Cameron’s increasingly Eurosceptic party.
But when he stepped down from government last July he had served 23 years as a minister – the fifth longest of the 20th century (Churchill wins with 29 years) – and remained both cheerful and largely uncompromised, popular with voters across most parties as an authentic political personality: jazz and pints, cigars, bird-watching and all.
I suppose we must first have met in the now-defunct Westminster watering hole known as Annie’s Bar, a place where hacks and politicians could meet and – most important – buy rounds on equal terms. It was the mid-70s and Clarke, elected at 29 and soon made a government whip by Ted Heath, was now one of Margaret Thatcher’s junior industry spokesmen, despite having voted against her insurgent leadership.
Was he still doing a spot of lawyering in the criminal courts too? I expect so. The jazz and beer-drinking image, the suede shoes and scruffy ties were already established. He was friendly and candid with young reporters, although not in my experience inclined to any intimacy. That bluff exterior was there to shield a private person, an essential loner like Denis Healey – another rejected future leader – who could never backslap colleagues for votes or mouth conventional pieties. Had he read the EU’s Maastricht Treaty? No (quite right too, incidentally, it is long and tedious).
When Thatcher entered Downing Street in 1979 Clarke was dispatched to lowly Transport as Norman Fowler’s deputy. I remember writing that but for his Europeanism, it could so easily have been the other way around. Both men were deft survivors, but it was Clarke whose stamina would eventually carry him much further: to the Home Office and the Treasury, the loyal sheet anchor of John Major’s cabinet (“Any enemy of John Major’s is an enemy of mine,” he warned the party conference), the elder statesman of David Cameron’s.
Eventually promoted to Thatcher’s cabinet in 1985 (he held nine cabinet posts in all) he did not plot, and when the final crisis came stabbed her in the front unlike her supposed allies. He was the first cabinet minister to tell Thatcher that she had to go, “in the brutalist style he has cultivated”, she noted in her memoir – as if her own style had ever been emollient.
In opposition after 1997, and on the backbenches by choice, he needed to rest and make some money after 18 years in office. He spoke out for Europe and against Tony Blair’s war in Iraq, and was powerful, scathing and confident. “Here I am, take me as you find me, I’m not greatly bothered,” seemed to be the sub-text. It was not that he was – or is – anything other than robust. He would bash the teachers and health unions (nurses, for heaven’s sake), the lawyers and civil-liberty lobbies. He opposed increasing the prison population, but endorsed secret courts in national security cases.
Love him or hate him, voters knew he was speaking his own mind, not someone else’s. It had to end one day and last July David Cameron – who was three when Clarke was first elected an MP – brought the curtain down. Clarke has plenty of hinterland to keep him busy and promises to make mischief on the backbenches.
On Twitter recently he appeared to suggest that I would look dashing in drag. When we next bumped into each other I queried the joke. “Nothing to do with me, it must be a false account,” he replied. What a shame. Ken Clarke could certainly be a big beast on Twitter, but he’s far too busy enjoying himself.
Michael White will be talking to Ken Clarke on 19 November at a Guardian Live event in London. Find out more about upcoming events and how to sign up to Guardian Membership.
