Kenneth Clarke

As part of our documentary we wanted to interview a well known politician to make our documentary more engaging and interesting for the audience. We have managed to get an interview with Kenneth Clarke, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice during one of his political surgeries. We have agreed to use the interview as part of our A Level coursework only and therefore are unable to upload it to youtube.



Kenneth Clarke has been in politics for just over 40 years and has held the following roles during his time:

MP for Rushcliffe, 1970 -
PPS to the Solicitor-General, January 1971 - April 1972
Assistant Government Whip, April 1972 - February 1974
Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury, January 1974 - February 1974
Opposition Social Security Front Bench Spokesman, June 1974 - November 1976
Opposition Industry Spokesman, November 1976 - May 1979
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Transport, May 1979 - March 1982
Minister for Health, March 1982 - September 1985
Entered Cabinet as Paymaster General and Minister for Employment, September 1985 - June 1987
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Trade & Industry, June 1987 - July 1988
Secretary of State for Health, July 1988 - November 1990
Secretary of State for Education and Science, November 1990 - April 1992
Home Secretary, April 1992 - May 1993
Chancellor of the Exchequer, May 1993 - May 1997
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, January 2009 - May 2010
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, May 2010

We thought that Kenneth Clarke was a good choice for the politician we would use in our documentary as he has had a lot of experience within the government and currently specialises in the justice system. This would allow us to ask questions about Julian Assange's sexual assault charges as well as the availability of the internet in prisons.