Tories must win in Worcester, says Ken Clarke

Shadow business secretary Ken Clarke said he was worried no political party would get an outright majority if his party did not oust Labour’s Mike Foster at the next general election.

On buoyant form after a good lunch and address at Sixways yesterday, Mr Clarke also talked candidly about the MP expenses scandal, in which he has been asked to pay back more than £4,700, the state of the economy, and why he thought it was important for youngsters to aspire to a university education.

Speaking before a tour of the University of Worcester’s city campus site on Croft Road , Mr Clarke was asked by your Worcester News if he’d be scared if he was the city’s Labour MP.

He said: “I would hope so. I personally don’t see how Labour can get re-elected. If the Conservatives don’t win here I fear a hung parliament and I think there’s not greater peril for the country when it’s in the middle of a major crisis.”

Mr Clarke would not be drawn on what a Conservative vicTory at the next general election would mean for the cash-strapped city and county councils, both Tory-run, because he said he was not aware of their financial situation.

While Mr Clarke backed party leader David Cameron’s stance on not allowing MPs who do not repay their expenses to stand at the next election, he refused to urge West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer, who is retiring next year, to reveal what he has been asked to pay back.

Mr Clarke said: “I’m not aware what’s in his letter. We are weeks away from being asked to pay any money back and as for mine I haven’t got any idea what Sir Thomas Legg is talking about saying I’ve claimed for gardening. I’ve never claimed for gardening.”

Meanwhile, Mr Clarke said he was impressed to see how the university was growing and thought the new business school, set to open on the former Royal Infirmary site next September, would be vital in giving youngsters a future once the economy recovers.