Clarke said the Tories would privatise Royal Mail if they win the next general election and that he has held 'private, confidential meetings' with potential bidders. The company needed private capital and private management to modernise the business, Clarke said.
He did not reveal whether he had met with TNT, the most prominent among the potential bidders.
"We propose to bring in private capital, assuming it is not in too disastrous a state by next May," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
His comments come as mail centre staff and drivers began a 24-hour walkout at 4am this morning, with delivery and collection staff due to strike on Friday.
Clarke said Royal Mail was "broke" and its future had to involve a change of culture to stop business "draining away".
Royal Mail was becoming a "total disaster" and criticised Gordon Brown for "changing his mind" over the postponed part-privatisation plans.
"The Government has done nothing about the Royal Mail and we now have what could be a truly disastrous strike."
On the same programme, the Communication Workers Union general secretary Billy Hayes said the union was "quite happy" to hold talks at mediator Acas, but urged Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier to become involved.
It emerged today that extensive negotiations this week between Royal Mail management and the CWU stalled at the 11th hour.
that Dave Ward, the CWU deputy general secretary, believed a "form of words" had been agreed during marathon talks earlier this week, but claimed that the progress was "wiped out" by a last minute intervention from Mark Higson, managing director of Royal Mail.
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