Tory big beast Ken Clarke to stand down at the next general election
One of the biggest beasts to stride through contemporary British politics has announced his intention to stand down at the next General Election.
Tory grandee Ken Clarke, MP for Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, since 1970, told China Daily: “I have told the officers of my constituency association that once we have finished the boundary changes, they had better start choosing my successor.
“I will not stand again. This is my last parliament.”
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The 75-year-old MP held a series of senior positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major in the 1980s and 1990s, including education secretary, home secretary and chancellor of the exchequer.
A europhile, Clarke told Morning Wire in a wide-ranging interview last week: “I am perfectly clear. All other things being equal, future generations of British people will be less well off if we leave the EU than they would have been if we stay inside. On the economic case, [Leave] don’t have an answer really."