Clare defeated incumbent 11-year Labor MP Michael Hatton for preselection in May 2007. He also competed for preselection against George Williams, who had been "anointed by the ALP executive", had the "blessing of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam" and whose chances had been "talked up" by ABC news reports. Clare retained Blaxland at the 2007 federal election, which saw Labor win government. Clare has been touted as a future ALP leader but has denied any interest in becoming leader.
Government (2007–2013)
Clare was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Employment in June 2009. Following the intra-party power struggle that saw Julia Gillard become Prime Minister, Clare was promoted into the Ministry and appointed Minister for Defence Materiel in September 2010. He retained Blaxland with a clear majority at the 2010 election. On 12 December 2011, Clare was appointed Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Justice and in the March 2012 reshuffle he again picked up the portfolio of Defence Materiel. On 4 February 2013, Clare replaced Mark Dreyfus as Cabinet Secretary, at the same time relinquishing the defence material portfolio. He retained the home affairs and justice portfolios through to the government's defeat at the 2013 federal election. However, on 1 July, following a leadership spill that saw Kevin Rudd return as prime minister, he was replaced as Cabinet Secretary by Alan Griffin. Clare was a member of Cabinet from 25 March to 1 July 2013.
Opposition (2013–present)
Clare has been a senior member of the shadow cabinet since Labor's defeat in 2013, under opposition leaders Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese. He has served as Shadow Minister for Communications, Resources and Northern Australia, Trade and Investment, Regional Services, Territories and Local Government, and Housing and Homelessness.
Political views
Following the 2013 election, Clare blamed the leadership tensions between Gillard and Rudd for the party's defeat, and stated it was time for "generational change" in the party's leadership. Clare is a member of the Labor Right faction, and after Labor's defeat at the 2019 election initially supported Chris Bowen to replace Shorten as leader. However, Bowen later withdrew from the race, allowing Albanese to win election unopposed. Clare supports same-sex marriage. Notably, his electorate had the highest percentage of "No" responses in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey of 2017, with 73.9% of the electorate's respondents to the survey saying "No".
