View source for David Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere

{{Short description|British Labour Party politician, former cabinet minister and author}}
{{distinguish|Lord Windermere}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=August 2010}}
{{Lead too short|date=August 2010}}
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name             = The Lord Clark of Windermere
|honorific-suffix = [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|PC]] [[Deputy Lieutenant|DL]]
|image            = Official portrait of Lord Clark of Windermere crop 2, 2019.jpg
|caption          = Official portrait, 2019
|office           = [[Minister for the Cabinet Office]]<br>[[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]
|primeminister    = [[Tony Blair]]
|term_start       = 2 May 1997
|term_end         = 27 July 1998
|predecessor      = [[Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman|Roger Freeman]]
|successor        = [[Jack Cunningham]]
|office1          = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Defence]]
|leader1          = [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]]<br>[[Margaret Beckett]] {{small|(Acting)}}<br>Tony Blair
|term_start1      = 18 July 1992
|term_end1        = 2 May 1997
|predecessor1     = [[Martin O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Clackmannan|Martin O'Neill]]
|successor1       = [[John Major]]
|office2          = [[Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]]
|leader2          = [[Neil Kinnock]]
|term_start2      = 13 July 1987
|term_end2        = 18 July 1992
|predecessor2     = [[Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman|Roger Freeman]]
|successor2       = [[Jack Cunningham]]
|office3          = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]]
|term_start3      = 3 May 1979
|term_end3        = 14 May 2001
|predecessor3     = [[Arthur Blenkinsop]]
|successor3       = [[David Miliband]]
|office4          = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[Colne Valley (UK Parliament constituency)|Colne Valley]]
|term_start4      = 18 June 1970
|term_end4        = 8 February 1974
|predecessor4     = [[Richard Wainwright (politician)|Richard Wainwright]]
|successor4       = Richard Wainwright
|birth_date       = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1939|10|19}}
|birth_place      = [[Castle Douglas]], [[Dumfries and Galloway]], Scotland
|death_date       = 
|death_place      = 
|party            = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
|alma_mater       = [[Victoria University of Manchester]]<br>[[University of Sheffield]]
|residence        = [[Windermere, Cumbria (town)|Windermere]], [[Cumbria]], England 
}}

'''David George Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere'''<ref>{{cite web| url= https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200102/minutes/010702/ldminute.htm| title= Minutes of Proceedings| access-date= 20 April 2007| date= 2 July 2001| author= House of Lords| author-link= House of Lords| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061020103402/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200102/minutes/010702/ldminute.htm| archive-date= 20 October 2006| url-status= live}}</ref> [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|PC]] [[Deputy Lieutenant|DL]] (born 19 October 1939)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dr David Clark (Hansard)|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/dr-david-clark/index.html|access-date=2021-05-11|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> is a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician, former [[cabinet minister]] and author.

==Education and early career==
Clark was born in [[Castle Douglas]], Scotland. He attended Bowness Elementary School and Windermere Grammar School in [[Cumbria]]. After leaving school, he worked as a [[forester]] and then as a laboratory assistant in a textile mill before becoming a student teacher in 1959.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Clark attended the [[Victoria University of Manchester|University of Manchester]] as a [[mature student]] from 1960, gaining a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in Economics, then later an [[M.Sc]]. He was President of the [[Students' Union]]. In 1978, he gained a [[PhD]] from the [[University of Sheffield]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

He was a lecturer in Government and Administration at the [[University of Salford]] from 1965 to 1970 and a tutor at [[University of Manchester]] from 1967 to 1970.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

==Parliament==
Clark joined the Labour Party in 1959 and the [[Co-operative Party]] two years later. He stood unsuccessfully for [[Manchester Withington]] at the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966 General Election]], being defeated by the incumbent Conservative, [[Sir Robert Cary, 1st Baronet|Sir Robert Cary]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

He was first elected as a member of parliament (MP) for [[Colne Valley (UK Parliament constituency)|Colne Valley]] which he represented from 1970 to 1974. After losing in the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 general election]], he became a senior lecturer in Politics at Huddersfield Polytechnic (now the [[University of Huddersfield]]) until 1979 when he returned to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as Member of Parliament for [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]] in Tyne and Wear which he held until he stood down at the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===Shadow cabinet===
Clark was regularly elected to the [[Shadow Cabinet]] while the Labour Party was in opposition. He held a number of Shadow portfolios, including Agriculture Fisheries & Food (1972–1974), Defence (1980–81), Food Agricultural and Rural Affairs (1987–1992), and Shadow Defence Secretary (1992–1997). Although he was not a strong supporter of [[New Labour]], he did support [[Tony Blair]]'s bid for the party leadership in 1994.

===Government===
Clark's long-standing position as a member of Labour's [[frontbench]] team meant Blair was obliged to appoint him to the Cabinet when the party was elected to government in May 1997. However, he was not given a senior or middle-ranking position, and instead was given the office of [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]], with responsibility for producing a [[White Paper]] on [[Freedom of information legislation|Freedom of Information]] which was published in July 1998 and ultimately led to the [[Freedom of Information Act 2000]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2013/may/02/south-shields-byelection-land-rights-access|title=South Shields by-election: why the seat's tradition of public freedom is at stake|last=Ashbrook|first=Kate|date=2013-05-02|work=The Guardian|access-date=2018-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019001833/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2013/may/02/south-shields-byelection-land-rights-access|archive-date=19 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Clark opposed moves to water down the freedom of information proposals from what had been proposed by Labour in [[Official Opposition (UK)|Opposition]], and this led to his sacking. At the time, he said that he believed his sacking was also because of his insistence on living in the North-East and "missing out on the London cocktail circuit". Additionally, Blair's sacking of Clark and another "old Labour" figure, [[Gavin Strang]], was part of a plan by Blair to bring two [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] into the Cabinet, a plan thwarted by [[John Prescott]] and others (though it is highly likely the Liberal Democrats would not have accepted the plan anyway had it become public).<ref>{{cite news|title=Blair's plan for coalition revealed in stolen diary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/nov/29/labour.labour1997to99|first=Michael|last=White|date=29 November 1999|work=The Guardian|access-date=1 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017182528/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/nov/29/labour.labour1997to99|archive-date=17 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Heavily involved and interested in [[Bosnia]], Clark was forced to apologise for not declaring a 1993 meeting with [[Radovan Karadžić]] in the Register of Members' Interests, as he "thought it had been a United Nations-funded trip".

===Speaker's election===
Two years later, on 23 October 2000, Clark stood for the job of [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]] in succession to [[Betty Boothroyd]] but was unsuccessful (192 votes in favour, 257 against) and his backbench colleague, [[Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn|Michael Martin]] was elected.

===2001 general election and resignation===
Clark sought reselection by the [[South Shields]] [[Constituency Labour Party]] to contest the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]] for the seat. However, control of the constituency Party had swung in favour of a vocal group of critics, led by a faction within [[South Tyneside]] Council, who feared Clark actually intended to stand down when the General Election was called, thus enabling the [[National Executive Committee of the Labour Party|Labour Party's National Executive Committee]] to parachute a favoured candidate into the Constituency{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}, historically a safe Labour seat. During the reselection contest Clark vigorously denied the claims and told the ''[[Shields Gazette]]'' newspaper advising he had every intention of contesting the general election{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}}. In the event, he won reselection thanks to the support of regional trade union barons.

When Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the date of the general election in 2001, Clark immediately stood down and the Labour Party NEC moved swiftly, New Labour rising star [[David Miliband]] was selected to fight the seat. Miliband, an Oxford graduate from London, was seen locally as a [[parachute candidate]].{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

Within weeks of the Labour Party winning the 2001 general election, Clark was created a [[life peer]] on 2 July 2001 as '''Baron Clark of Windermere''', ''of [[Windermere, Cumbria (town)|Windermere]] in the [[Cumbria|County of Cumbria]]''<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=56265 |date=5 July 2001 |page=7935}}</ref> and now sits in the [[House of Lords]]. He was also appointed to the paid post of chairman of the [[Forestry Commission]].

===House of Lords===
Clark's ongoing political interests include [[Bosnia]], open spaces, [[hunting]] and bloodsports (to which he is opposed), defence and the environment.

He was awarded Freedom of the Borough of [[South Tyneside]] in February 1999, and is a long-standing fan of [[Carlisle United]] Football Club, of which he is a director. He served as a [[deputy lieutenant]] of Cumbria from 2007 to 2014. Clark was chair of the Atlantic Council of the UK (1998–2003), and has been Leader of the North Atlantic Assembly since 2001, having been a member since 1980. He was a member of the executive of the [[National Trust]] from 1980 until 1994. He was chair of the [[Forestry Commission]] from 2004 to 2009; a non-executive director of the Homeowners Friendly Society, the [[Thales Group]], and the UK Friendly Insurance Services. He is a [[trustee]] of the [[Vindolanda Trust]], the History of Parliament Trust, and the Gravetye Trust, and a [[patron]] of the [[UK Defence Forum]]. He chairs the Lake District National Park Partnership.

==Personal life==
He married Christine Kirkby, in 1970 and they have one daughter and one son, Catherine and Thomas. He lives in [[Windermere, Cumbria (town)|Windermere]], and lists his recreations as gardening, [[fell walking]], reading, and watching football. He is a director of [[Carlisle United Football Club]].

==Honours==
* He was sworn in as a member of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom]] in 1997, giving him the [[Honorific|honorific title]] "[[The Right Honourable]]" and after [[ennoblement]] the [[List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom)|Post Nominal Letters]] "PC" for life.
* He was awarded the [[Freedom of the Town]] of [[South Shields]] in 1999.
* He was made a [[baron]] in the [[Peerage of the United Kingdom]] in 2001 by [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] Tony Blair, allowing him a seat in the [[House of Lords]] where he sits with the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. 
* He took the title Baron Clark of Windermere.
* He served as a [[deputy lieutenant]] of the County of [[Cumbria]] from 2007 to 2014. This allowed him the [[List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom)|post nominal letters]] "DL" for life.
* He was awarded an [[honorary fellowship]] in November 2009 of the [[University of Cumbria]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cumbria.ac.uk/about/organisation/honorary-fellows/2009/ |title=2009 &#124; University of Cumbria |access-date=3 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404073258/https://www.cumbria.ac.uk/about/organisation/honorary-fellows/2009/ |archive-date=4 April 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{hansard-contribs | dr-david-clark | David Clark }}
* [http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-5R3HRC Biography on the Forestry Commission website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212013634/http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-5r3hrc |date=12 December 2007 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Richard Wainwright (politician)|Richard Wainwright]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br>for [[Colne Valley (UK Parliament constituency)|Colne Valley]]|years=[[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970]] – [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|1974]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Richard Wainwright (politician)|Richard Wainwright]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Arthur Blenkinsop]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br>for [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]]|years=[[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979]]–[[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[David Miliband]]}}
|-
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman|Roger Freeman]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]]|years=1987–1992}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jack Cunningham]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Martin O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Clackmannan|Martin O'Neill]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Shadow Secretary of State for Defence]]|years=1992–1997}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Major]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman|Roger Freeman]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister for the Cabinet Office]]|years=1997–1998}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after=[[Jack Cunningham]]}}
|-
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]|years=1997–1998}}
{{s-prec|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Baron Grocott|The Lord Grocott]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom|Gentlemen]]'''<br />''Baron Clark of Windermere'' '''}}
{{s-fol|after=[[Baron Fowler|The Lord Fowler]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Shadow Defence Secretaries}}
{{Minister for the Cabinet Office}}
{{Blair Cabinet}}
{{Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 2000}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, David}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Huddersfield]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Salford]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Sheffield]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster]]
[[Category:Deputy lieutenants of Cumbria]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People educated at Windermere Grammar School]]
[[Category:People from Castle Douglas]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1970–1974]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1979–1983]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1983–1987]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1987–1992]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1992–1997]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:New Labour]]