CHARLES CLARKE was Member of Parliament for Norwich South from 1997 to 2010. He served as Education Minister from 1998 and then in the Home Office from 1999 to 2001. He then joined the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio and Labour Party Chair. From 2002 to 2004 he was Secretary of State for Education and Skills and then Home Secretary until 2006. Previously, Charles was Chief of Staff to Neil Kinnock, Leader of the Labour Opposition and a councillor in the London borough of Hackney, chairing the housing committee. He now holds visiting professorships at the University of East Anglia, Lancaster University, and University College London, and works with educational organisations internationally. Charles read mathematics and economics at Kings College, Cambridge and was then President of the National Union of Students. Born in 1950, Charles married in 1984. He and his wife Carol have two sons.