Personal life
Clarke was born in Coatbridge and was educated at All Saints Primary School in Airdrie and St Columba High School in Coatbridge,followed by the Scottish College of Commerce in Glasgow. [1] His brother,Tony,later become a councillor on North Lanarkshire Council. [2]
Clarke has long been a strong supporter of British film making and was an assistant director of the Scottish Council for Education Technology and was also the President of the British Amateur Cinematographers Central Council in 1971. [3] He then became a deputy director of the Scottish Film Council [4] and was the organiser of the Scottish International Amateur Film Festival in 1971. [5]
In 1973,Clarke submitted his short film,Give Us a Goal,to the amateur section of the Cannes Film Festival. [6] He is a member of the GMB and British Film Institute, [7] where he also served as a Governor, [8] as well as being the chairman of The Citizens Trust.
Career in Parliament
Clarke was selected to contest the 1982 Coatbridge and Airdrie by-election caused by the death of the sitting Labour MP James Dempsey. He won the by-election on 24 June 1982 with a majority of 10,090. Clarke became known quite quickly in parliament for his work on issues surrounding disabled people and in 1986 he sponsored the 'Disabled Persons (Services,Representation and Consultation) Act'. [11]
After the 1987 general election,Neil Kinnock appointed him Shadow Minister for Personal Social Services from 1987,in which role he served until 1992. [10] Clarke then became a member of the Shadow Cabinet of John Smith as Shadow Scottish Secretary. Clarke was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1992 but has since recovered. [12] He then became the Shadow Minister for Overseas Development in 1993. Clarke left the Shadow Cabinet in 1994 and returned in 1995 to serve as Shadow Minister for the Disabled until 1997 under the leadership of Tony Blair. [10] [13]
Following the 1997 general election he joined the Privy Council [14] and served as a Minister of State at the Department for Culture,Media and Sport with responsibility for Film and Tourism. He was reportedly dismissed from the role in a major government reshuffle whilst visiting the film set of Notting Hill .
Clarke was the Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development [15] and authored the International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Act 2006,which ensures that the Secretary of State for International Development reports on what the Department for International Development spends in total on international aid and is categorised into what proportion is spent upon low-income countries,the effectiveness of current spending and the level of transparency of international aid. The Act is also used as a guide to establish the current progress upon United Nations Millennium Development Goals. [16]
He served as the Treasurer of the All Party Group on Carers from 2005 until 2010 and was the Chair of the All Party Group on Learning Disabilities. [17]
Clarke served on the Administration Committee from 2008 until 2010. In the following parliament he was a member of the Standards and Privileges Committee and the Joint Committee reviewing the draft bill on Reform of the House of Lords. [10] In 2014 Clarke received £15,000 in damages for defamation in the Daily Mail which incorrectly claimed he was involved in the decision to reduce the amount of expenses that MP Maria Miller should repay,motivated by his own expenses claims. [18]
In February 2013,Clarke voted against the second reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. [19] Subsequently,in May 2013 the MP voted against the bill’s third and final reading, [20] opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales.
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