Don't go left, warns Charles Clarke
The former Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said that he is unlikely to ever be a Member of Parliament again.
"If the election is held in 2015, then I will be 65, and I don't want to be in Parliament aged 70," he said.
"But should there be an election in a couple of years time, then I wouldn't rule it out."
But with the 55% rule on a dissolution vote and the adoption of fixed term parliaments, the likelihood of an early election is remote, even if the coalition is feeling the strain, and so we may well be looking at the end of Charles Clarke's political career.
Of course he will be playing a role as visiting professor at the University of East Anglia and hopes to raise the profile of politics there. He also hopes to begin work on a number of books that he's been planning to write.
He denies that had David Milliband been elected he may have played a greater political role, even if he hadn't been an MP.
"I voted for David Miliband as my one and only preference," he said but he expressed support for Ed Miliband although he believes the new Labour leader will have to work fast to prove himself.
Charles Clarke also warned that the new leader should not to allow the party to swing to the left.
He is an intellectual man, a deep thinker and deeply immersed in politics. He says he's a Labour man through and through but it looks like he will now participate from the sidelines.
Students under his tution could learn a lot.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit µþµþ°äÌý°Â±ð²ú·É¾±²õ±ð for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
Welcome to the political blog for the East. I'm Deborah McGurran, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's Political Editor for the region. From Lowestoft to Luton, this is the place for politics with an eastern twist.
Comment number 1.
At 27th Sep 2010, john wrote:What is with this ' don't swing to the left' ?. The only time the working man in this country has had any real chance of improving his station in life ( not counting the property owning money borrowing pseudo working class) has been when a left of centre administration has been in power.
All today I have read on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú and other news sites of this abhorrence of a swing to the left . This makes me think that Clarke and his ilk are just closet Tories .
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)