Ken Clarke named as Justice Secretary
Kenneth Clarke has been appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice as incoming prime minister David Cameron forms his first cabinet.
Details are emerging of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government, with key cabinet posts confirmed so far including Clarke as the UK’s new Justice Secretary, replacing the outgoing Labour minister Jack Straw.
Clarke, who served in the Conservative cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, holding roles including Chancellor of Exchequer, Health Secretary and Education Secretary, was appointed by Cameron in 2009 as Shadow Business Secretary before being confirmed as Justice Secretary today (12 May) in the new government.
Clarke was called to the Bar in 1963 and became a QC (senior barrister) in 1980, practising at now-dissolved Birmingham set No3 Chambers.
However, Clarke’s appointment will be greeted with surprise as he was expected to assume a prominent business portfolio in the new administration rather than join the Department of Justice, whose shadow team was led in opposition by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve.
Grieve has succeeded Baroness Scotland in the role of Attorney General.
The Bar Council, which had held informal discussions with the Conservative Party ahead of the election, is known to have been caught off guard by Clarke’s appointment, while Clarke told the BBC: “I’m completely out of date on issues that are terribly important.”
Meanwhile, other key business posts will see George Osborne take on the role of Chancellor while Theresa May has been named Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality.
Liberal Democrat Vince Cable has been appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, a post in which he is expected to play a prominent role in overhauling bank regulation.
Fellow Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne is set to become energy and climate change secretary as the incoming government attempts to reinforce the UK’s commitment to renewable energy.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat David Laws, a former investment banker at both JP Morgan and Barclays de Zoete Wedd, has been appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
More ministerial posts are set to be announced today.
News of the cabinet appointments came as City advisers pore over details of the new coalition Government’s policies, which are emerging this week after the Conservative and Liberal Democrats on Tuesday (11 May) concluded their formal power-sharing deal in the wake of last week’s inconclusive general election.
Key business commitments of the new administration include a programme of comprehensive banking reform, including new controls on bonuses and the introduction of a bank levy.
The new Government has already given indications that a Conservative manifesto pledge to largely abolish the Financial Services Authority (FSA) could be heavily watered down. Instead the Government is examining moves to transfer market regulation to the Bank of England, leaving the FSA in charge of policing individual institutions.
However, it has been confirmed that the Government will press ahead with the Conservative pledge to introduce a cap on non-EU immigration, a policy which had been unpopular in the City.
Other major policy commitments for the new Government include:
- reform to raise capital gains tax significantly for non-business assets in line in income tax;
- the expansion of nuclear power;
- the introduction of a new civil liberties bill, including the scrapping of ID cards;
- the creation of a new commission to investigate breaking up large banks; and
- accelerated moves to cut the size of the UK’s budget deficit, including £6bn of spending cuts this year
As expected, the Conservative/Liberal coalition is set to lead to a programme of constitutional and electoral reform, with the government set to introduce fixed-term parliaments, a wholly or mainly elected House of Lords and a referendum on voting reform.
It is unclear if the Government plans to honour the Conservative promise to scrap the Human Rights Act in favour of a British Bill of Rights. In 2006 Clarke branded the plan as “xenophobic and legal nonsense”, claiming that Cameron would “struggle to find lawyers who agree with him” on the issue.
Source : Legal Week
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