Charles Clarke

The son of Civil Service Permanent Secretary Sir Richard Clarke, Charles Rodway Clarke was born in London on 21 September 1950. He attended the fee-paying Highgate School where he was Head Boy. He then studied Mathematics and Economics at King's College, Cambridge, where he also served as the president of the Cambridge Students' Union.

A member of the Broad Left faction, he was president of the National Union of Students from 1975 to 1977. Clarke had joined the Labour Party by then and was active in the Clause Four group. Clarke was the British representative on the Permanent Commission for the World Youth Festival (Cuba) from 1977 to 1978.

Local government

He was elected as a local councillor in the London Borough of Hackney, being chair of its Housing Committee and vice chair of economic development from 1980 to 1986. He worked as a researcher, and later chief of staff, for Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock from February 1981 to 1992. He was Kinnock's chief of staff from 1985 onwards.

His long association with Kinnock and with the general election defeat in 1992 was expected to handicap him in his career, but Clarke bounced back. He spent the mid-1990s away from national politics, working in the private sector – from 1992 to 1997, he was chief executive of Quality Public Affairs, a public affairs management consultancy – and subsequently emerged as a high flyer under the Labour leadership of Tony Blair.

Home Secretary

Following the first resignation of David Blunkett on 15 December 2004, Clarke was appointed Home Secretary, one of the senior positions in the Cabinet.

He was swiftly at the centre of attention for his advocacy of proposals for countering terrorism. Critics suggest that his reforms to the judicial system undermine centuries of British legal precedent dating back to the 1215 Magna Carta, particularly the right to a fair trial and trial by jury. He was also criticised for the Identity Cards Act 2006, seen by some as serious infringement of privacy, but Clarke insisted that identity cards were necessary to combat terrorism.

During the 2005 British Presidency of the European Union, Clarke pressed other member states to pass a directive to require communications data to be stored for law enforcement purposes. The directive was criticised as infringing civil liberties and privacy, and critics also noted that the directive had been approved very quickly.

In 2006, Clarke scrapped an ex-gratia discretionary scheme under which compensation to those wrongly convicted of a criminal offence could be awarded. Professor John Spencer QC, of Cambridge University described the move as "monstrous".

Foreign prisoners scandal

On 25 April 2006 it emerged that 1,023 foreign prisoners had been freed without being considered for deportation. Among the offenders, five had been convicted of committing sex offences against children, seven had served time for other sex offences, 57 for violent offences and two for manslaughter. There were also 41 burglars, 20 drug importers, 54 convicted of assault and 27 of indecent assault.

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett supported Clarke but said that "heads should roll" over the scandal, though many of the releases had occurred during his period as Home Secretary. The Home Office later stated that 288 were released from prison between August 2005 and March 2006, which implied that prisoners continued to be released after the matter had been brought to the attention of the government.

Labour leadership controversy

On 8 September 2006, Clarke gave an interview to the Evening Standard in which he criticised the 'presumption' that Gordon Brown would succeed Tony Blair as prime minister, helping trigger further disputes about the Labour leadership. Clarke said of Brown's reaction to the leadership crisis, "A lot of people are very upset and cross about that. It was absolutely stupid – a stupid, stupid thing to do." He named Alan Milburn as a politician who had the stature to be prime minister instead of Brown.

Clarke furthered his attack on Brown in an interview with The Daily Telegraph on the following day, accusing Brown of being "a control freak", "deluded" and "uncollegiate".

Clarke with Alan Milburn set up The 2020 Vision website to discuss the direction of the Labour party after Tony Blair ceased being prime minister. Some observers saw this as a way for Gordon Brown's political opponents to create an axis against him. The website has since closed.

On 23 March 2008, Clarke published a list of 35 Labour held constituencies vulnerable to other parties if fewer than 7,500 voters switched parties away from Labour. This was interpreted by many as an attempt to force a leadership change on the Labour party.

On 4 September 2008, Clarke once again attacked Gordon Brown's performance as leader of the Labour Party and prime minister, claiming that he only had "months" to improve or else should face a leadership contest. However, when asked whether he would stand as a "Stalking horse" to draw out stronger candidates, he confirmed that he would not.

On 1 May 2009, Clarke joined David Blunkett in criticising Gordon Brown's leadership and declared that he was "ashamed" to be a Labour MP, citing the Damian McBride scandal. In September 2009, Clarke gave a speech in which he said that Brown should stand down as prime minister to help the Labour Party avoid "a hammering" at the 2010 General Election.