Labour Expulsion and Independent Councillor
In May 2007, he was chosen by Northampton Labour Party to stand in the supposedly 'safe Labour' Castle ward for the 3 May local elections. The decision created a split between the local Labour Party and the Labour party nationally and regionally, and the reasons have never been clear. It is speculated that the regional and national party forced Clarke out and selected their own candidate Tess Scott on an all women short list against the local party's wishes and outside of the Labour Party rules. They then selected Clarke and had three candidates before telling him he could not stand. As a result, Clarke decided to stand as an Independent and fight against the official Labour Party candidate in Castle ward, a decision which resulted in his expulsion from the Labour Party. Castle was a two-member ward but unusually Labour could only field one candidate.
Three other local Labour members were also expelled; Clarke's running mate in the election, Peter Evans, also a previous Borough Councillor; John Dickie, a former Labour leader of the Borough Council; and a second former Labour leader of the Borough Council, Geoff Howes. Howes had also been a Mayor of the town who, not long before, had been elected by the then contolling Labour party as a Freeman of the Borough. Clarke said: "...They have shot themselves in the foot. This...was a contributing factor to their losses...".
In a shock result for the local Labour Party, he won the Castle seat, previously a Labour stronghold, on Northampton Borough Council. Moreover, he also topped the poll with 601 votes as an Independent. Also elected, but trailing in second place, the only Labour candidate got 447 votes. Out of 47 councillors on the borough council, Labour ended up with only 5 seats, the Conservatives 15, and Mr Clarke as the sole independent. The Liberal Democrats took control with 26 seats, the first time for about 80 years since the Liberals were last in control. Clarke lost his seat at the May 2011 election when the Conservatives regained control of the council.
At a Council Meeting at Northampton Guildhall on Thursday, 26 June 2008, members of the Council spent an hour discussing where Mr Clarke should sit. The Labour members had refused to sit anywhere near their former colleague. At the start of the meeting, Mr Clarke had been asked to give up his seat so that a Labour Councillor could take it. Mr Clarke refused, and complained about not being involved in the "usual channels" discussions and pointing to an empty seat next to him saying they could sit there if they wished. Under an editorial headed "A Complete Shambles", the local paper commented that: "Neither Mr Clarke nor the Labour and Conservative Groups come out with much credit after this." The meeting was to sign off the draft accounts of the Council and had to be abandoned.
Read more about this topic: Tony Clarke (British Politician)
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