Tony Clarke
Encyclopedia
Anthony Richard Clarke, known as Tony Clarke, (born Northampton, 6 September 1963) is a former independent Northampton Borough Council councillor, previously a British Labour Party
politician, and was Member of Parliament
for Northampton South
from 1997-2005.
on Northampton Borough Council. He won the parliamentary seat unexpectedly at the 1997 general election
with a majority of 744 over the sitting Conservative
MP Michael Morris
, with a campaign based on local representation. Morris, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, had a 14,000 vote majority at the 1992 election
, and the seat was considered safe for the Conservatives.
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 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 Kingdom
Tony Blair
, and US President George W. Bush
, he chose to report the leak to the police rather than expose what was said.
Three other local Labour members were also expelled; 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 contolling Labour party as a Freeman of the Borough
. Clarke said: "...They [Labour] have shot themselves in the foot. This...was a contributing factor to their losses...[in the May 2007 borough elections]".
In a shock result for the local Labour Party, he won the Castle seat, previously a Labour stronghold, on Northampton Borough Council. Moreover, he also topped the poll with 601 votes as an Independent. Also elected, but trailing in second place, the only Labour candidate got 447 votes. Out of 47 councillors on the borough council, Labour ended up with only 5 seats, the Conservatives 15, and Mr 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 when the Conservatives regained control of the council.
At a Council Meeting at Northampton Guildhall on Thursday, 26 June 2008, members of the Council spent an hour discussing where Mr Clarke should sit. The Labour members had refused to sit anywhere near their former colleague. At the start of the meeting, Mr Clarke had been asked to give up his seat so that a Labour Councillor could take it. Mr Clarke refused, and complained about not being involved in the "usual channels" discussions and pointing to an empty seat next to him saying they could sit there if they wished. Under an editorial headed "A Complete Shambles", the local paper commented that: "Neither Mr Clarke nor the Labour and Conservative Groups come out with much credit after this." The meeting was to sign off the draft accounts of the Council and had to be abandoned.
(NEC}. He was selected as the official Labour candidate for a Northampton Borough Council by-election to be held 22 January 2009. 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 a distant fourth with just 5.8% of the vote, barely saving his deposit
. Dickie cites the failure was due to a professional Conservative campaign, people voting along traditional lines and the televised debates between the three main party leaders. Clarke was fortunate to secure enough votes to keep his deposit, unlike most independents across the UK, on a poor night for non-aligned candidates.
The boundary of the constituency changed for the 2010 election with loss of some parts of the southern and western areas to the Daventry and the new South Northamptonshire constituency. The areas lost were generally be considered Conservative, thus increasing the possibility of Labour regaining the seat. However, it remained firmly Conservative with Clarke's intervention, having no effect whatsoever. Clarke had earlier said:
Labour's choice of official candidate was announced in November 2008 as Clyde Loakes, who was born and brought up in Northampton, and who went on to become leader of Waltham Forest council in northeast London
.
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.
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician, and was Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Northampton South
Northampton South (UK Parliament constituency)
Northampton South is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for February 1974 general election when the old constituency of Northampton was split into Northampton North and Northampton South.-Boundary...
from 1997-2005.
Labour Councillor and former MP
Before becoming an MP, Clarke had previously been a Labour CouncillorCouncillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
on Northampton Borough Council. He won the parliamentary seat unexpectedly at the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
with a majority of 744 over the sitting Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP Michael Morris
Michael Morris, Baron Naseby
Michael Wolfgang Laurence Morris, Baron Naseby, PC is a British Conservative Party politician.Born in London, he was first elected to the House of Commons in the February 1974 general election for Northampton South. His majority was just 179 votes in February 1974, and 141 in October 1974. In 1983...
, with a campaign based on local representation. Morris, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, had a 14,000 vote majority at the 1992 election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
, and the seat was considered safe for the Conservatives.
At the 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, Clarke held the seat with a majority of 885 votes over the Conservative candidate Shailesh Vara. However, Conservative Brian Binley
Brian Binley
Brian Arthur Roland Binley is a British Conservative politician, and the Member of Parliament for Northampton South.-Early life:...
took the seat with a majority of 4,419 at the May 2005 General Election.
Clarke was regarded as 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 Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, and US President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, he chose to report the leak to the police rather than expose what was said.
Labour expulsion and Independent Councillor
In May 2007, he was chosen by Northampton Labour Party to stand in the supposedly '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 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.Three other local Labour members were also expelled; 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 contolling Labour party as a Freeman of the Borough
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
. Clarke said: "...They [Labour] have shot themselves in the foot. This...was a contributing factor to their losses...[in the May 2007 borough elections]".
In a shock result for the local Labour Party, he won the Castle seat, previously a Labour stronghold, on Northampton Borough Council. Moreover, he also topped the poll with 601 votes as an Independent. Also elected, but trailing in second place, the only Labour candidate got 447 votes. Out of 47 councillors on the borough council, Labour ended up with only 5 seats, the Conservatives 15, and Mr Clarke as the sole independent. The Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
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 when the Conservatives regained control of the council.
At a Council Meeting at Northampton Guildhall on Thursday, 26 June 2008, members of the Council spent an hour discussing where Mr Clarke should sit. The Labour members had refused to sit anywhere near their former colleague. At the start of the meeting, Mr Clarke had been asked to give up his seat so that a Labour Councillor could take it. Mr Clarke refused, and complained about not being involved in the "usual channels" discussions and pointing to an empty seat next to him saying they could sit there if they wished. Under an editorial headed "A Complete Shambles", the local paper commented that: "Neither Mr Clarke nor the Labour and Conservative Groups come out with much credit after this." The meeting was to sign off the draft accounts of the Council and had to be abandoned.
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 CommitteeNational Executive Committee
The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...
(NEC}. He was selected as the official Labour candidate for a Northampton Borough Council by-election to be held 22 January 2009. 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
Election agent
In elections in the United Kingdom, as well as in certain other similar political systems such as India's, an election agent is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is sent to by those running the election. In elections in...
at the 2010 General Election where Clarke came a distant fourth with just 5.8% of the vote, barely saving his deposit
Deposit (politics)
A deposit is a sum of money that a candidate must pay in return for the right to stand for election to certain political offices, particularly seats in legislatures.-United Kingdom:...
. Dickie cites the failure was due to a professional Conservative campaign, people voting along traditional lines and the televised debates between the three main party leaders. Clarke was fortunate to secure enough votes to keep his deposit, unlike most independents across the UK, on a poor night for non-aligned candidates.
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.2009 Northants County Council elections
The voters in Castle ward in the centre of Northampton picked Clarke to represent them on the county council at the 4 June 2009 County Council elections. Clarke now represents the Castle ward as an independent on both Northampton borough and Northamptonshire county councils. He said: "The people have spoken and I'll now take this all the way to the General Election to give the people the chance to vote independent". At the count he was observed to have been congratulated by his old Labour colleagues Dickie and Howes (see above). He beat the official Labout candidate into second place in what is normally a solid Labour county council division. 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.2010 General Election
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, significantly behind the three main parties' candidates, narrowly avoiding losing his deposit. His campaign cost over £8,000 . It has been rumoured since the election that Clarke recognises he is unelectable as an Independent parliamentary candidate and will concentrate on retaining his position as a borough and county councillor. He lost his borough seat to Labour in 2011.The boundary of the constituency changed for the 2010 election with loss of some parts of the southern and western areas to the Daventry and the new South Northamptonshire constituency. The areas lost were generally be considered Conservative, thus increasing the possibility of Labour regaining the seat. However, it remained firmly Conservative with Clarke's intervention, having no effect whatsoever. Clarke had earlier said:
"...I think the only chance they [Labour] had of winning went out of the window when they declared internal war on half the membership [of the local Labour party] in 2005. It should be a safe Labour seat but I'll stand as an independent and I'll take on Brian Binley if they can't."
Labour's choice of official candidate was announced in November 2008 as Clyde Loakes, who was born and brought up in Northampton, and who went on to become leader of Waltham Forest council in northeast London
.
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.