The U.K. election next month will see the departure from Parliament of two former Chancellors of the Exchequer. As well as having run the Treasury, Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond share another distinction: They were both expelled from the Conservative Party in September. The retirement of Clarke, 79, has been a while coming. For Hammond, 64, it is more abrupt. Announcing he wouldn’t be a candidate in a letter to voters published on Twitter, he was clear it wasn’t his preference. “I am saddened to find myself in this position after 45 years of Conservative Party membership,” he wrote. Boris Johnson moved quickly to ... (full story)