Jan
8
Charles Clarke lectures on loyalty
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
I discovered today that Charles Clarke knows a thing or two about loyalty in the Labour Party. In 1995 he was criticising John Smith (who died three years earlier) for a lack of loyalty to Neil Kinnock.
Disclosure: I don’t like Charles Clarke. I met him only once, in 2003. I was investigating political party financing for the ippr whilst he was chairman of the Labour Party. We had a series of meetings arranged, all of which were cancelled, some whilst I was on my way to the meeting. When we finally met, at a small cross-party seminar I organised, he arrived (late) only to launch straight into an attack on us. It was unpleasant and in stark contrast to the way I was treated by every other senior politician I met. But, as ever in politics, I like and admire some people who like Charles Clarke. So he might not be all bad.
Charles Clarke has been branded by some as a traitor to the Labour Party. His frequent attacks on Gordon Brown have irritated party members in Norwich and fellow MPs. I actually think Charles Clarke has good reason to attack Gordon Brown, given the way that Brown appears to have dealt with him whilst he was secretary of state for education. But, as I’ve said elsewhere, now is not the time for these debates.
So I was entertained to spot the following report in the archives of the Guardian from 1 December 1995:
Kinnock aide (Charles Clarke) says (John) Smith ‘disloyal’
Neil Kinnock’s most senior adviser during his time as Labour leader has . . . conceded that the late John Smith was disloyal to Mr Kinnock before the 1992 general election.
Mr Clarke says of John Smith:
“Some people alleged that John Smith had a game plan to replace Neil as leader of the party. That was put to me by a lot of people. I in fact discussed it with John at one point. I believed that was entirely untrue.
“However, I have to say that after the 1992 election, one or two people in very senior positions indicated that John had been talking in a disloyal way.”
In other news that day, England were playing South Africa and were struggling after an opener scored 100.
No related posts.
What I understood from meeting Charles Clarke as a constituent (not a Labour voter), is he doesn’t fools gladly, is very bright, integral, good listener. He’s always been very polite and good natured to me.
But folks with agenda’s or malicous intent, or just not on top of their facts; he’s a grizzly bear. Bears are hard to like; they do there own thing for their own honest reasons, few understand. IPPR or Brown; you are likely to evoke this side of him.
So Brown had it coming in the bear pit of Chaz Clarke.
Thanks Rob – it’s good to have another point of view. I’m sure he is, as you say, clever and polite when required. It is an unfortunate trait of many in politics when they make presumptions of people’s motives, or their views, because of their political labels (as I have done in the past – sorry Tom Watson).