Kenneth Clarke's peerage gazetted as Baron Clarke of Nottingham

 _. The life peerage awarded to former Conservative government minister Kenneth Clarke, has been gazetted in the name, style and title of Baron Clarke of Nottingham, of West Bridgford in the County of Nottingham

Kenneth Harry Clarke, CH QC PC (born 2 July 1940), often known as Ken Clarke, is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997 and Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993. Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire from 1970 to 2019. Between 2017 and 2019 he was the Father of the House of Commons. While he still remains a member of the Conservative Party, the Conservative whip was withdrawn from him on 4 September 2019 because he and 20 other MPs voted with the Opposition on a motion; for the remainder of his time in Parliament he sat as an independent, though still on the government benches. He stood down as an MP at the 2019 general election and was thereafter appointed by Boris Johnson as a Member of the House of Lords, as Baron Clarke of Nottingham, in September 2020.

Clarke, described by the press as a 'Big Beast' of British politics, has served in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Education Secretary, Health Secretary and minister without portfolio. He has been the President of the Tory Reform Group since 1997. Clarke identifies with economically and socially liberal views.

Clarke contested the Conservative Party leadership three times—in 1997, 2001 and 2005—being defeated each time. Opinion polls indicated he was more popular with the general public than with his party, whose generally Eurosceptic stance did not chime with his pro-European views. He is President of the Conservative Europe Group, Co-President of the pro-EU body British Influence and Vice-President of the European Movement UK.

-=-