Kenneth Clarke - Malcolm Balen

Malcolm Balen's account details how a Nottinghamshire watch-repairer's son found himself in 1990 the only member of Mrs Thatcher's Cabinet prepared to tell her to her face that she should resign, an act of defiance for which he remains unforgiven among some sections of the Tory Party. Clarke has never been afraid to speak his mind: as Secretary of State for Health and the Education - the teachers loathed him, the ambulencemen went on strike, his advisers despaired of his ever listening to their advice - he implemented reforms that bedevilled his successors who ended up having to undo his most radical measures.;Yet Clarke has no natural cabal of supporters within his party. His achievements have been the result of his skill as a solo Parliamentary performer. In this biography, Malcolm Balen has followed Kenneth Clarke's trail and spoken to Clarke's friends and family, his political supporters and foes from inside and outside his own party, and at length to Clarke himself.