Ken Clarke is a British politician who served as Chancellor (1996 - 2000) and later Deputy Prime Minister (2000 - 2003) under Michael Portillo. After the 2000 election he was sacked as Chancellor, and reluctantly accepted the much less important cabinet post of Deputy Prime Minister. He resigned over the Portillo government's decision to join the United States invasion of Iraq, and subsequently challenged Portillo for the Conservative Party leadership. He was defeated. In 2009 he returned to cabinet as business secretary.