The return of Ken Clarke

It is strongly rumoured that Kenneth Clarke is to return to the Conservative front bench as shadow business secretary to face Peter Mandelson. Not in the House of Commons obviously as Peter Mandelson has no elected position, he is an unelected member of the House of Lords. The hope is that Ken Clarke will bring some aggression and experience to the Shadow Cabinet. The BBC and Labour will do their best to use the return of Ken Clarke to split the Conservative party over the subject of the EU, with the sideshow of Ken Clarke's call for a reduction in VAT, a call that pre-dated Alistair Darling's policy implementation. The VAT issue will be brought up by Gordon Brown at every opportunity he did so at last week's PMQs with great relish, but this will not cause problems in the Conservative party or with the electorate. The EU problem is a bigger problem and I foresee trouble ahead.

The BBC stuck in their cosy time-warped world say

"But Mr Clarke, MP for Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire since 1970, remains popular with the public, who recognise him for his love of cigars, jazz and classic cars."

When was the last time the BBC updated their pen profile of Ken Clarke? I seem to remember them using the same line since around 1985; is this incompetence or lazy journalism?