Editor of MailOnline, the website of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, at the time of the Inquiry. Previously Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, Clarke had also held editorial positions at the Daily Mirror, Scottish Daily Mail, The Scotsman and the Irish Mail on Sunday. Giving evidence to the Inquiry, he defended some web stories that had been criticised by detailing sources and defended other claims, such as that "racism is hard-wired in the human brain", by reference to original sources. Clarke told the Inquiry that "news speaks for itself".
At the time of the Inquiry, Chief Executive of A&N Media, the consumer media operation of DMGT plc, which includes Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Mail Online and Metro. Told the Inquiry that as Chief Executive he had no editorial functions since the editors had complete editorial independence and high ethical and professional standards went hand in hand with the commercial objectives of the newspapers.
