FactCheck: Ken Clarke vs Tories?
Updated on 21 January 2009
How far does the new shadow business secretary agree with his party's views on Europe, the VAT cut and more?
The claim
"First of all, the shadow business secretary called the Conservative party European policy 'crackpot', 'dotty' and 'absurd'. I know they're trying to find a way of sitting together now, but they don't agree with each other's views on Europe and on many other things." Gordon Brown, prime minister's questions, 21 January 2009
The background
The famously pro-European Ken Clarke, former shadow chancellor and three times Tory leadership candidate, made a front bench comeback this week as shadow business secretary.
At a time which Gordon Brown has declared is not for a novice, Clarke's appointment sees recent Labour comeback not-exactly-kid Peter Mandelson pitted against a big beast with government experience.
But Clarke's years, not all of which have been spent toeing the party line, also provide attack fodder for Labour.
At prime minister's questions today, Brown quoted Clarke's views on Europe in an attempt to embarrass David Cameron, saying that the pair don't see eye to eye on Europe and "many other things".
Time to dig into the Clarke closet: is he as much of a rebel as the PM makes out?
The analysis
Today is the sixth time Gordon Brown has taunted the Tories in parliament over Clarke's "crackpot", "dotty" and "frankly absurd" verdict on their policy on Europe.
The Labour party supplied FactCheck with the full quotes from which these choice adjectives are drawn:
"It always was crackpot to argue that it was transferring great powers to Brussels and there's an important constitutional change, and it doesn't justify a referendum and it never did." (Daily Politics, 18 July 2007).
"Now I have a lot of intelligent, well educated, professional businessmen type constituents and they would think I was dotty if I went along and said, Parliament cannot decide this, this is the kind of thing beyond your MPs who can have no view on this, this is a very, very important matter where an opinion poll held throughout my constituency has got to decide all these issues." (The Week in Westminster, Radio 4, 30 June 2007).
"I think the idea we have a referendum, and we all go out and campaign amongst our constituents saying 'what do you think about the Polish deal on the voting system in the council of ministers' is frankly absurd. This treaty's far less important than Maastricht."
Ken Clarke, Sunday AM, BBC 1, 24 June 2007).
But the constitution was killed off by French and Dutch voters before Britain had the chance to go to the polls; from its ashes rose the Lisbon Treaty.
These refer to one specific - though not insignificant - aspect of Tory policy: a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
A quick recap - in its 2005 election manifesto, Labour promised a referendum on the planned EU constitution which would, some said, see us being sucked into a "United States of Europe".
But the constitution was killed off by French and Dutch voters before Britain had the chance to go to the polls; from its ashes rose the Lisbon Treaty.
The Tories called for a referendum on the treaty; the government said there was no need as it was simply an amending treaty for existing legislation rather than a full-on new constitution.
It's virtually impossible to say who's right; detractors point out that 90 per cent of the text of the treaty and the constitution is the same; supporters argue that the abandoned 10 per cent contained the significant, constitutional content. A more detailed FactCheck on the issue is here.
Clarke's alleged VAT-cut support comes from an interview in The Times in November 2008, days before a VAT cut was announced in the pre-budget report.
In his official statement after being appointed shadow business secretary, Clarke acknowledged his former differences with the Tory, pro-referendum point of view, but said that these had been put aside.
"Some may raise questions about my views on Europe," he said. "They are well-known. But I accept that the Party has come to a settled view on European matters, and I will not oppose the direction David will set on European policies in the future."
What about Clarke's other views? It didn't come up in today's PMQ's, but another common Brown line of embarrassment is to call on Ken Clarke's support of the government's £12bn 13-month VAT cut.
"It's good to have someone in the shadow cabinet who is supportive of our policy on VAT, and probably supportive of many of our other policies," Brown said with a smile, in response to a reporter's question on Monday.
Clarke's alleged VAT-cut support comes from an interview in The Times in November 2008, days before a VAT cut was announced in the pre-budget report.
In a line that seems almost to pre-empt the government - if not quite Tory party - policy, Clarke said: "If it's possible to afford a fiscal stimulus I would go for VAT because the only case for a fiscal stimulus is to stimulate spending and consumer demand, so the tax on spending is the one to go for. But it should be temporary."
The article continues: "Mr Osborne is opposed to a tax cut funded out of borrowing, but Mr Clarke says that such a fiscal stimulus should not be ruled out.
'There's no point in being ultra-orthodox. A lot of people are going to be hurt by a dreadful recession. If you think a fiscal stimulus is going to do any good then you could strive to see if you can afford it.'
"However, he says: 'If Alistair Darling borrows a lot of money, sterling will nosedive and the long-term interest rates will go up. If that's the case, you can't afford it.' "
What to make of that? Clarke says a temporary VAT cut would be the best type of fiscal stimulus package - the same conclusion the government reached.
He also suggests some support for a fiscal stimulus, which you should "strive" to see if you can "afford".
But he tempers this support, first by saying "if you can afford it" and then by cautioning against borrowing "a lot of money" - something the government is pretty inarguably having to do.
So Clarke does make the point that we can't afford a fiscal stimulus - the Tory party view.
He doesn't use the interview to hammer this point home, however, with the kind of strident protesting about Brown's borrowing bombshell that often heard from David Cameron and George Osborne.
Which illustrates the difference between the roaming on the back benches and being wheeled out to get the party line out in interviews.
Away from the words, how much has Ken Clarke put his money, or rather his votes, where the Tory mouth is?
According to research by Nottingham University academic Philip Cowley, Ken Clarke was the most rebellious Tory MP under David Cameron's leadership.
The majority of these rebel votes concerned the torturous progression of the Lisbon Treaty through parliament - so back to those Europe views again.
However, he also supported the government on six issues, including intellectual property rights, Northern Ireland and sexual orientation.
The verdict
Ken Clarke's views on Europe - as eloquently expressed in the summer of 2007 - have indeed differed from the Tory party line.
This is something he acknowledged on accepting a shadow front bench position, and said he would drop his opposition to in future.
Although he has expressed support for a VAT cut, something the Tories frequently attack as a waste of money, he suggested at the same time that Britain couldn't afford such a move - which takes him back in line with Tory party policy.
Clarke has gone off-message in the past, but perhaps more significant is his future behaviour. Just three days into his frontbench job, it's too early to say how supportive he will be of the party line in future.
FactCheck rating: 2.5
How ratings work
Every time a FactCheck article is published we'll give it a rating from zero to five.
The lower end of the scale indicates that the claim in question largely checks out, while the upper end of the scale suggests misrepresentation, exaggeration, a massaging of statistics and/or language.
In the unlikely event that we award a 5 out of 5, our factcheckers have concluded that the claim under examination has absolutely no basis in fact.
Your view
You've read the article, now have your say. We want to know your experiences and your views. We also want to know if there are any claims you want given the FactCheck treatment.
Email factcheck@channel4.com
FactCheck will correct significant errors in a timely manner. Readers should direct their enquiries to the editor at the email address above.
