Exit Hush Puppies, Centre-Right

If a week is a long time in politics, then 42 years is pretty much an eternity. In 1972, Edward Heath was Prime Minister, Harold Wilson Leader of the Opposition. There were no Liberal Democrats, just the remains of the once mighty Liberal Party. The public sector was much bigger, with key industries run by the state. Trades unions were pillars of the workforce, and when they went on strike, people took notice. Scotland and Wales enjoyed virtually no autonomy, whilst it was beginning to dawn on politicians that maybe Northern Ireland had too much. Britain had not long shed the last of her colonies, and the military bases around the world which went with them. NATO was our most important foreign alliance, although we were on the brink of joining the new-fangled EEC.

Into this world a new Conservative MP was made a government whip. From that date until this evening, he has held office in every Conservative government. A junior minister at the start of the Thatcher era, he eventually rose to be Health Secretary, Education Secretary, Home Secretary and finally Chancellor of the Exchequer, arguably one of the most successful Chancellors ever. As if this tour de force wasn't enough, he also narrowly missed out on being Tory leader twice, once in 1997 and again in 2001, despite polls showing he was much more popular with the public than the eventual victors. Many believe he could have at least eased, and maybe even ended earlier, the Tory wilderness years of 1997-2010. Retreating to the backbenches gave him the independence go vote against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In the current Conservative government, this man served as Justice Secretary, and a Minister Without Portfolio.

And today he goes. If any of the current Tory ministers repeat this feat, I shall be 66 when they leave office. But I doubt they'll do it with the same jazz-loving, cigar-smoking, pro-European moderate Toryism we've come to know and love. So farewell Ken Clarke, maybe the only Conservative leader I could ever have voted for. You shall be missed.