Helen Clark (UK politician)

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For other persons named Helen Clark, see Helen Clark (disambiguation).

Helen Clark

Born	December 23, 1954
Former MP	Peterborough

Helen Clark, previously known as Helen Brinton, (born December 23, 1954) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was a Labour Member of Parliament for Peterborough from 1997 until the 2005 general election, when she lost her seat to Conservative candidate Stewart Jackson.

Her marriage to Ian Brinton ended in 1997; she subsequently married political journalist Alan Clark and assumed his name.

Clark was educated at the University of Bristol, and worked as a teacher for several years before her election as a Member of Parliament in 1997. She had previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour parliamentary candidate for the Faversham constituency during the 1992 general election.

Early on in her parliamentary career, Clark was widely derided for her enthusiastic displays of loyalty to her party leaders.^[1] However, she later displayed a rebellious streak through her opposition to the Iraq war. Three days after her defeat in 2005, she left the Labour Party, blaming her defeat on Labour leader Tony Blair and policies such as top-up fees and the Iraq war.^[2].

It was widely reported at this point that she had declared she was planning to defect to the Conservative Party^[2], an announcement which was not locally popular - the leader of the Labour group on the City Council called it "a slap in the face"^[3]. However, by the beginning of June it was reported she had not joined the party, and did not intend to.^[4]