Clarke contested the Bristol East seat at the 2015 and 2017 general elections as the Conservative Party candidate but was unsuccessful.[17] The party selected her as the candidate for Stafford on 26 September 2019.[18] The incumbent Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy had previously announced that he would be standing down at the next election.[19] She was elected as Stafford's MP in the 2019 general election with a majority of 14,377 (28.1%),[20] the largest in the constituency's history.[16]
On 5 October 2020, Clarke was appointed as the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Kenya. She helped implement the UK-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement which continued the duty-free access to the UK market for Kenyan businesses after Brexit. The agreement carried forward arrangements agreed by the European Union and the East African Community.[22][23] Clarke resigned this role in July 2022 in protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's leadership.[24]
Clarke took maternity leave following the birth of her first child in August 2022.[26][27]
In February 2023, Clarke stated she was unable to be re-selected as Conservative candidate for Stafford, further stating she intended to appeal to local members in an attempt to stay on as candidate.[28]
In March 2023, Clarke was re-adopted as the Conservative candidate for Stafford having won the wider membership vote.[29]
Clarke married Henry Coram-James, son of John Coram-James and The Countess of Harrowby (formerly Caroline Coram-James) and stepson of the Earl of Harrowby,[32] on 14 August 2021 at the Church of St Mary, Bibury.[33] In March 2022, she announced that the couple were expecting their first child.[34] Their daughter Arabella was born in August 2022.[27]
In a speech to the House of Commons in October 2023, Clarke revealed she had been rushed into emergency surgery following the birth of her daughter, calling on the government to do more to help women who had been through "birth trauma".[35]
