Politics & Power Quote by Kenneth Clarke

Impatience is doing a lot of work here, and it is strategic. Clarke isn’t merely venting about time in opposition; he’s framing eight years as an almost intolerable dereliction, a hangover that must end. The language is bluntly transactional: “progress back into power” treats politics less as a crusade of ideas than as a mechanism that’s either winning or failing. That’s classic Clarke: the pragmatist’s instinct that governing is the point, and purity is a luxury for people who never have to sign the budget.

The intent is twofold. On the surface, it’s a pitch for leadership - urgency as a credential. Underneath, it’s a rebuke to the party’s recent strategy and identity: if you’ve spent nearly a decade out, something about your choices, your tone, or your coalition-building isn’t working. Clarke’s “desperately” is carefully calibrated: emotionally charged enough to sound human, yet still tethered to competence rather than ideology. He’s saying, I can stomach compromise, I can speak to the middle, I can get you over the line.

Context matters because long stints in opposition breed theological debates: who is the “real” Conservative, which faction has the moral right to set the agenda, whether principle matters more than electability. Clarke positions himself as the antidote to that inward spiral. The subtext: stop auditioning for applause inside the room; start behaving like a party that wants the keys back.