Career
A former telegraph boy and postman, in 1979 Clarke became a full-time official of the Union of Postal Workers, which in 1980 became the Union of Communication Workers (UCW). He edited the UPW journal "The Post" in 1979, and served as the UCW"s Deputy General Secretary from 1981 to 1993. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1998 New Year Honours.
He was created a life peer on 29 July 1998, as Baron Clarke of Hampstead, of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden.
He chaired the Taskforce established to investigate the causes of the disturbances in Burnley in 2001. In May 2009 he admitted that he “fiddled” his expenses to make up for not being paid a salary.