Now Ken Is the Big Beast Labour Should Fear Most ; the Former Chancellor's Return to the Front Bench has Risks for the Tory Leadership -- But the Real Threat He Poses Is to the Government

Summary

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HOW much trouble must the crack public relations team now running the Conservative Party have taken to project just the right degree of crumpled cosiness around Ken Clarke for yesterday's interview for the Andrew Marr show? The pile of discarded Sunday papers thrown over a chair and just visible over his left shoulder; the soft- furnishings from an unspecific decade of the last century; a dreadful not-quite-tweed sports jacket that shouted "favourite old relative": it was quite brilliant.

Of course the whole point about Clarke is that he must not be permitted to have a makeover. He's not exactly your average geezer down the pub, more like the self-made bloke who owns the posh house up the gravel drive, pops in for a pint every now and again and is considered by the regulars to be "all right".

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Now Ken Is the Big Beast Labour Should Fear Most ; the Former Chancellor's Return to the Front Bench has Risks for the Tory Leadership -- But the Real Threat He Poses Is to the Government

Ken Clarke doesn't need PR because he is his own brand. He has been brought back into the shadow cabinet because he is a natural, who at least gives the impression of being utterly at ease in front of a TV camera (although there is always the suspicion that, like his beloved jazz heroes, hour...

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