Information AboutCharles Clarke |
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The Right Honourable Charles Rodway Clarke (born September 21 , 1950 ) is a British Labour Party Politician . He is Member Of Parliament for Norwich South (since 1997) and Home Secretary (since December 2004). BACKGROUND AND EARLY CAREER The son of Civil Service Permanent Secretary Sir Richard Clarke , Charles Clarke was born in London. He attended Highgate School where he was Head Boy . He then read Mathematics and Economics at King's College , Cambridge , where he also served as the President of the Cambridge Students' Union . He went on to become President of the National Union Of Students from 1975 to 1977 . He was elected as a local councillor in the London Borough Of Hackney , acting as Chair of its Housing Committee and Vice-Chair of economic development from 1980 to 1986 . He worked as a researcher, and later Chief of Staff, to Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock from 1981 to 1992 . His association with Kinnock and with the General Election defeat in 1992 was expected to handicap him in his subsequent career, but after a period in the private sector - from 1992 to 1997 , he was chief executive of Quality Public Affairs, a public affairs management consultancy - he was to emerge as a high flyer. MP AND MINISTER Elected to the British House Of Commons in the Labour Landslide Of 1997 , Clarke served less than a year on the back benches before joining the government as a junior education minister in July 1998 . He moved to the Home Office in 1999 and joined the Cabinet as Minister Without Portfolio and Party Chair after the 2001 General Election . He returned to Education as in the UK to charge Top-up Fees , despite a Labour manifesto commitment not to introduce such fees. In 2004 he became a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society to acknowledge its contribution to education and in memory of his father, who had been a statistician. Home Secretary Following the first resignation of David Blunkett on 15 December , 2004 , Clarke took over at the Home Office as Home Secretary , one of the most senior positions in the Cabinet. He has recently been at the centre of much controversy regarding his proposed plans for countering terrorism. Critics suggest that his reforms to the judicial system undermine centuries of British legal precedent dating back to the 1215 Magna Carta , particularly the right to a Fair Trial and Trial By Jury . During the 2005 UK Presidency of the European Union , Clarke pressed other member states to pass a directive to require communications data to be stored for law enforcement purposes. The directive was criticised as infringing civil liberties and privacy, and critics also noted that the directive had been approved very quickly. Clarke married his wife, Carol Pearson, in 1984 . They have two sons and live in Norwich . Clarke speaks Cuban Spanish (a legacy of his student links with Cuba ), French, and German. FOREIGN PRISONERS SCANDAL On April 25th 2006 it emerged 1,023 foreign prisoners had been freed without being considered for deportation. Among the offenders, five had been convicted of committing sex offences on children, seven had served time for other sex offences, 57 for violent offences and two for manslaughter. There were also 41 burglars, 20 drug importers, 54 convicted of assault and 27 of indecent assault. Former Home Secretary David Blunkett commented that “Heads should roll” over the scandal, despite the fact that many of the releases occurred during his period as Home Secretary. {Link without Title} The Home Office later revealed that of those, 288 were released from prison between August 2005 and March - suggesting the problem continued after it had been raised with the government. The National Audit Office told ministers last July that preparations to remove foreign criminals from the UK should begin "much earlier", and not be left until the end of their prison sentences. Mr Clarke added: "It is a massive issue and it's true to say, with the vast growth of foreign national prisoners, we took our eye off the ball. "The first priority at this moment is to get the situation under control - that is what I'm focusing on. "We don't know exactly where everybody is ... I know where about 100 of those 1,000 now are, and we are going through the most urgent cases." {Link without Title} It has subsequently transpired that some of those released then committed further crimes in Britain. {Link without Title} The scandal has led many to call for his resignation, not only from the opposition; reportedly Clarke offered to resign, but the Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to accept. EXTERNAL LINKS
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