Ken Clarke's speech
Last year, we finally updated our cable package to include Sky News, a move which has enabled me to keep up with all the goings on in post-Brexit Britain. So it came to be that whilst enjoying the public holiday afforded to all Hong Kongers on the third day of Chinese New Year (31 January 2017), I found myself watching the UK Parliament debate the move to trigger Article 50 and start the process of withdrawing the country from the European Union.
I was just about to switch-over, when the speaker called on Kenneth Clarke, so out of curiosity and respect for a politician whom I have always admired and whose career spans almost 50 years, I thought I would pause a moment to see what he had to say.
What followed was one of the most impressive political speeches I have ever been privileged to witness. Without notes and with sparkling humour, passion and imagery, Clarke treated us to a seventeen minute tour de force which covered the history of Britain’s relationship with the EU, a defence of the importance of Parliament and a plea to every MP to vote with their conscience, rather than their party whip. This was political oratory at its best. Clarke took every criticism he knew would be levelled at him and destroyed it, either with biting humour, or by turning the insults back on the accusers. It was simply brilliant.
Kenneth Clarke has been an arch Europhile all his career. Indeed, he worked for Edward Heath to bring the UK into Europe back in the ‘70s and with Thatcher (yes, Thatcher) in the ‘80s to strengthen the Single Market in the UK’s favour. He passionately believes in the EU’s strength as a free trading block and the role it has given back to the UK after the end of Empire as marked by the Suez Crisis which, as Clarke said, had turned the British economy into a laughing stock. In his support for the EU, Clarke has been unstinting throughout his career, so much so that this is the one reason why leadership of the Conservative Party was denied him (he stood, and was rejected, three times). Still, as Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Chancellor he has served his country in some of the biggest offices of state. It must be gut-wrenching for him to have to witness Brexit in his last Parliament.
Yet with this speech, the first from a backbencher in the debate, Clarke has probably left a legacy for the ages that will be looked back on in the fullness of time when Brexit comes to be judged as a success of failure. Clarke is in no doubt which this is.
As the only Conservative MP who defied the party whip to vote against Article 50, his warnings about the future make him similar to Winston Churchill in his Wilderness years, whose own concerns about events involving Europe also fell on deaf ears. Like Churchill, Ken Clarke also proved that he understands that true oratory is not just about conveying facts, but about holding attention and stirring the spirit. When he sat down amidst the applause of his fellow members the other day, he knew that even though most of colleagues did not agree with him, he had made his points, caused them to think and earned their respect.
I was just about to switch-over, when the speaker called on Kenneth Clarke, so out of curiosity and respect for a politician whom I have always admired and whose career spans almost 50 years, I thought I would pause a moment to see what he had to say.
What followed was one of the most impressive political speeches I have ever been privileged to witness. Without notes and with sparkling humour, passion and imagery, Clarke treated us to a seventeen minute tour de force which covered the history of Britain’s relationship with the EU, a defence of the importance of Parliament and a plea to every MP to vote with their conscience, rather than their party whip. This was political oratory at its best. Clarke took every criticism he knew would be levelled at him and destroyed it, either with biting humour, or by turning the insults back on the accusers. It was simply brilliant.
Kenneth Clarke has been an arch Europhile all his career. Indeed, he worked for Edward Heath to bring the UK into Europe back in the ‘70s and with Thatcher (yes, Thatcher) in the ‘80s to strengthen the Single Market in the UK’s favour. He passionately believes in the EU’s strength as a free trading block and the role it has given back to the UK after the end of Empire as marked by the Suez Crisis which, as Clarke said, had turned the British economy into a laughing stock. In his support for the EU, Clarke has been unstinting throughout his career, so much so that this is the one reason why leadership of the Conservative Party was denied him (he stood, and was rejected, three times). Still, as Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Chancellor he has served his country in some of the biggest offices of state. It must be gut-wrenching for him to have to witness Brexit in his last Parliament.
Yet with this speech, the first from a backbencher in the debate, Clarke has probably left a legacy for the ages that will be looked back on in the fullness of time when Brexit comes to be judged as a success of failure. Clarke is in no doubt which this is.
As the only Conservative MP who defied the party whip to vote against Article 50, his warnings about the future make him similar to Winston Churchill in his Wilderness years, whose own concerns about events involving Europe also fell on deaf ears. Like Churchill, Ken Clarke also proved that he understands that true oratory is not just about conveying facts, but about holding attention and stirring the spirit. When he sat down amidst the applause of his fellow members the other day, he knew that even though most of colleagues did not agree with him, he had made his points, caused them to think and earned their respect.
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