Simon Richard Clarke (born 28 September 1984) is a British politician who served as

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...

from September to October 2022 and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland since 2017. Following

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

's appointment as Prime Minister, Clarke was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. He served as Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government from February to September 2020. In the 2021 cabinet reshuffle he was returned to Government as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in the ministry. After Johnson resigned in 2022, Clarke supported

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down ...

's bid to become Conservative leader. Following Truss's appointment as Prime Minister, he was appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a post he held until his resignation prior to the accession of Rishi Sunak to the Prime Ministership.

Early life

Clarke was born in North Tees Hospital and grew up in the suburb of Marton, Teesside. His parents Richard and Jill Clarke were a solicitor and stay-at-home mother. He was privately educated at

Red House School Red House School is a co-educational independent school in Norton, Stockton-on-Tees, in the north-east of England. Nursery, Reception and Year 1 are located in a purpose-built unit, whilst Years 2, 3 and 4 are in a Georgian Vicarage. The Pr ...

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

, before going on to study History at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. At university, he was chairman of the

Oxford University Conservative Association The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future and its su ...

in Trinity Term, 2006. After leaving university he moved to London and trained as a solicitor with

Slaughter and May Slaughter and May is an international law firm headquartered in Bunhill Row, London. Founded in 1889, Slaughter and May is considered to be one of the most prestigious law firms in the world and is a member of the " Magic Circle" of elite Londo ...

before going to work in 2010 for the Surrey-based Conservative MP

Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab (; born 25 February 1974) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord Chancellor since October 2022, having previously served from 2021 to ...

, and then the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

-based Conservative MP Graham Stuart.

Political career

Clarke unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate for the

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

constituency at the 2015 general election, coming third and suffering a swing against his party of 2.3%. Whilst being employed as a Policy Advisor to the Conservative MP Graham Stuart, he was selected as the candidate for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in April 2017. He was elected at the 2017 general election, winning the seat from Labour after the sitting MP Tom Blenkinsop stood down. Clarke has served on the

Treasury Committee The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...

, the Treasury Sub-Committee and the Regulatory Reform Committee. He clashed with both the then-Labour MP for Redcar and the Labour-run Middlesbrough Council over plans for transport improvements in the local area, while he argued against his own party's opposition to onshore windfarms. On 12 June 2019 the UK Government amended the

Climate Change Act 2008 The Climate Change Act 2008 (c 27) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes it the duty of the Secretary of State to ensure that the net UK carbon account for all six Kyoto greenhouse gases for the year 2050 is at ...

by introducing a target for a 100% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 1990 levels) in the UK by 2050. At the forefront of this change in policy was Clarke, who, in September 2018, organised a letter signed by more than 130 cross-party MPs which indicated their support for

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

emissions and stressed opportunities for UK businesses, including in the North East. On 27 July 2019 he was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in

's government. On 13 February 2020 he was appointed Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government. Clarke has been an advocate of regeneration both locally and nationally. In his role, he said that towns and coastal communities had not shared the benefits of the economic growth experienced in other parts of the UK. He said he supported regenerative measures undertaken by private initiatives in his constituency such as the reopening and expanding of Teesside International Airport, alongside the Tees Valley Mayor's plans to redevelop the SSI steelworks site. He remained Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government until 8 September 2020, when he resigned for personal reasons. In a cabinet reshuffle on 15 September 2021, Clarke succeeded

Steve Barclay Stephen Paul Barclay (born 3 May 1972) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since October 2022, having previously held the position from July to September 2022 under Boris Johnson. He served a ...

in the Cabinet-attending post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury. On 6 September 2022, Clarke was appointed

. He resigned from the role on 25 October 2022, prior to the accession of Rishi Sunak to the Prime Ministership. In December 2022, Clarke made an amendment to the Levelling Up Bill to ease planning rules for

onshore wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

s in England which was signed by 34 Conservative MPs—including former Prime Ministers

and

. As a result of a threatened rebellion led by Clarke, the Government said that a rule requiring new

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...

to be built on pre-designated land would be rewritten.

Political views

Clarke is a strong supporter of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

, having voted for the UK to leave the European Union, and is a supporter of the Eurosceptic campaign

Leave Means Leave Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campaig ...

. He called the new Brexit deal secured by

"marvellous news", stating that the "anti-democratic backstop" had been abolished. He was critical of the negotiating approach taken by

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

and had submitted a call for a

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in her leadership. On 6 June 2022, after a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson was called, Clarke announced that he would be supporting the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, praising his leadership on Brexit, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and the war in Ukraine, adding: "He has won every major election he has fought because he is a politician with the capacity both to inspire and to deliver."

Personal life

Clarke lives in the town of Guisborough,

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

, and London. His height, , makes him Britain's second-tallest MP and earned him the nickname "Stilts" at school. Prior to the 2021 autumn budget, Clarke said he would not take part in the traditional publicity photo with the Chancellor of the Exchequer as he suffers from agoraphobia.

Honours

* He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 20 September 2021 at Balmoral Castle. This gave him the honorific prefix "

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...

" for life.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Simon 1984 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Stockton-on-Tees Alumni of University College, Oxford People educated at Yarm School Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present British Secretaries of State Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Chief Secretaries to the Treasury British Eurosceptics