Greg Clark

Gregory David Clark (born 28 August 1967) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2016 to 2019.

He joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) while at Cambridge and was an executive member of its national student wing, Social Democrat Youth and Students (SDYS) and, in 1987, president of Cambridge University Social Democrats.

He then studied at the London School of Economics, where he was awarded his PhD in 1992 with a thesis entitled, The effectiveness of incentive payment systems: an empirical test of individualism as a boundary condition.

Clark first worked as a business consultant for Boston Consulting Group, before becoming special advisor to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Ian Lang, between 1996 and 1997.

Clark worked as a business consultant before becoming the BBC's Controller for Commercial Policy and then Director of Policy for the Conservative Party under Conservative leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard from 2001 until his election to parliament in 2005.

Subsequently, he was appointed the BBC's Controller, Commercial Policy, and was Director of Policy for the Conservative Party from 2001 until his election to parliament in May 2005.

Between 2002 and 2005, he was also a councillor on Westminster City Council, representing Warwick Ward and serving as Cabinet Member for Leisure and Lifelong Learning.

Clark was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Tunbridge Wells in December 2004.

A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tunbridge Wells since 2005.

He is currently the Chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee.

Clark was born in Middlesbrough and studied Economics at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was president of Cambridge University Social Democrats.

He then gained his PhD from the London School of Economics.

Clark was elected at the 2005 general election for the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells, after Archie Norman stood down as the MP.

He was elected with a majority of 9,988, and made his maiden speech on 9 June 2005, in which he spoke of the (then) forthcoming 400th anniversary of Dudley, Lord North's discovery of the Chalybeate spring and the foundation of Royal Tunbridge Wells, a town to which the royal prefix was added in 1909 by King Edward VII.

He also noted with pride that Royal Tunbridge Wells had elected the country's first Jewish Member of Parliament.

Clark was appointed to the front bench, in a minor reshuffle in November 2006 by David Cameron, becoming Shadow Minister for Charities, Voluntary Bodies and Social Enterprise.

Shortly after his appointment he made headlines by saying the Conservative party needed to pay less attention to the social thinking of Winston Churchill, and more to that of columnist on The Guardian, Polly Toynbee.

In October 2007, Clark campaigned to save Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital.

In October 2008, Clark was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet, shadowing the new government position of Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

A spokesperson for West Kent PCT said 39 major studies had been made of homeopathy but there was "no clear evidence that it worked"

Clark served in the Cameron-Clegg coalition as Minister of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2010 to 2012, Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2012 to 2013, and Minister of State for Cities and Constitution at the Cabinet Office from 2013 to 2014.

Clark was appointed a Minister of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government from May 2010, with responsibility for overseeing decentralisation, a key policy of the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition.

In this role he called for the churches and other faith communities to send him their ideas for new social innovations for all, and made a major speech on "turning government upside down" jointly to the think tanks CentreForum and Policy Exchange.

He was accused of hypocrisy, having staunchly opposed house-building while in opposition, while threatening to impose it as a government minister.

However, since announcing the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) he has been praised by heritage NGOs and Simon Jenkins of the National Trust.

In July 2011 he was appointed Minister for Cities.

In this role he tried to promote the urban economies of the North, West and Midlands.

In a cabinet reshuffle in September 2012, Clark was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, while retaining the ministerial brief responsible for cities policy.

Between July 2014 and May 2015, he held the post of Minister for Universities, Science and Cities.

On 15 July 2014 Clark was appointed to the role of Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, replacing David Willetts who was generally praised for his service in the post.

He also was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from 2015 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities from July to September 2022.

Following the 2015 general election, Prime Minister David Cameron promoted Clark to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

In November 2015, in his capacity of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Clark called in the decision making power in the appeal against the Lancashire County Council's decision regarding a shale gas fracking application made by Cuadrilla Resources.

In July 2016, he was appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy by new Prime Minister Theresa May and remained in that role until 24 July 2019.

He had the whip removed on 3 September 2019, for voting against the government, before it was restored on 29 October.

In May 2022, he was named as the Prime Ministers' trade envoy to Japan by Boris Johnson.

He has been described as an "economically liberal Conservative with a social conscience".

Clark was born in Middlesbrough and attended St Peter's Roman Catholic School in South Bank.

His father and grandfather were milkmen running the family business, John Clark and Sons, while his mother worked at Sainsbury's.

Clark read Economics at Magdalene College, Cambridge.