Don't believe it - ''Labour fear Ken Clarke''
All eyes were on me as the pub quizmaster asked my team to name all the shadow chancellors seen off by Gordon Brown. I reeled them off, but even the quizmaster had forgotten one. Ken Clarke was not shadow chancellor for long, but only Peter Lilley matched him for ineffectiveness.
I've told this story before, but it's worth repeating. When the Tories were considering a new leader after John Major, a senior BBC reporter told the Today programme of a secret internal memo from the Labour Party, which noted focus-group findings that Clarke was the people's choice. The reporter said Clarke was the man Labour feared most. Problem was, the memo was a complete fake, deliberately leaked in the hope that Tory MPs would believe that Clarke was the man Labour really feared. He wasn't then and isn't now.
Today, the Tories and many media commentators tell us that Clarke was a very good chancellor and that he provided Brown with a "golden legacy". This keeps Clarke in the frame for Tory leader, but it's complete rubbish. Labour inherited big inflationary pressures and a deficit of more than £20bn. Brown didn't just make the Bank of England independent when he took office; he also raised interest rates, something Clarke had delayed too long because of the impending election.
As chancellor, Clarke spent more time birdwatching than running the economy, which is why Brown and his team ran rings around him. And is it any wonder he lost the first leadership contest, after he announced that his shadow chancellor was to be John Redwood?
This is honest advice to Tory MPs, and I promise it isn't fake: choose Clarke as your leader, and you are doomed.
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