Alan Clark | |
|---|---|
 Clark appearing onOpinions in 1993 | |
| Minister of State for Defence Procurement | |
| In office 25 July 1989 – 14 April 1992 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | The Lord Trefgarne |
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Aitken |
| Minister of State for Trade | |
| In office 24 January 1986 – 24 July 1989 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Paul Channon |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Trefgarne |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment | |
| In office 13 June 1983 – 24 January 1986 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Peter Morrison |
| Succeeded by | Ian Lang |
| Member of Parliament forKensington and Chelsea | |
| In office 1 May 1997 – 5 September 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency Created |
| Succeeded by | Michael Portillo |
| Member of Parliament forPlymouth Sutton | |
| In office 28 February 1974 – 16 March 1992 | |
| Preceded by | David Owen |
| Succeeded by | Gary Streeter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark 13 April 1928 London, England |
| Died | 5 September 1999(1999-09-05) (aged 71) Saltwood, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Colin Clark (brother) |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a BritishConservativeMember of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister inMargaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments ofEmployment,Trade andDefence. He became a member of thePrivy Council of the United Kingdom in 1991.
He was the author of several books of military history, including his controversial workThe Donkeys (1961), which inspired the musical satireOh, What a Lovely War!
Clark became known for his flamboyance, wit, irreverence and keen support ofanimal rights.Norman Lamont called him "the mostpolitically incorrect, outspoken, iconoclastic and reckless politician of our times".[2] His three-volumeAlan Clark Diaries contains a candid account of political life under Thatcher and a description of the weeks preceding his death, which he continued to write until he could no longer focus on the page.
Alan Clark was born at 55Lancaster Gate, London, the elder son of art historianKenneth Clark (later Lord Clark), who was of Scottish parentage, and his wife Elizabeth Winifred Clark (née Martin), who was Irish.[3] His sister and brother,fraternal twins Colette (known as Celly) andColin, were born in 1932. At the age of six he began as a day boy at Egerton House, apreparatory school inMarylebone, and from there at the age of nine went on as aboarder toSt Cyprian's School,Eastbourne. Clark was one of the seventy boys rescued when the school building was destroyed by fire in May 1939. He was relocated with the school toMidhurst.
In September 1940, with theLuftwaffe threatening south-east England, the Clarks moved their son to a safer location atCheltenham College Junior School. From there he went toEton in January 1942. In February 1946 while at Eton he joined the training regiment of theHousehold Cavalry based atCombermere Barracks,Windsor. He transferred to the regiment'sTerritorial unit the same day, but was discharged in August when he had left Eton.[4] Later that year, he was called up fornational service in theRoyal Air Force Education Branch, but was exempted after citing his experience in the Household Cavalry while at Eton, which his biographerIon Trewin described as "a bit like doingOfficer Training Corps", but which Clark would later again embellish as prior military service in a CV for a possible parliamentary candidacy.[5]
He then went toChrist Church, Oxford, where he read Modern History underHugh Trevor-Roper, obtaining athird-class honours degree. As an undergraduate he was a member of theBullingdon Club, a private all-male dining club known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students' rooms. The club selects its members not only on the grounds of wealth and willingness to participate but also by means of education.[6] After Oxford he wrote articles for the motoring press before he went on to read for thebar. He wascalled to the bar in 1955 but did not practise law. Instead, he began privately studying military history with a view to professional writing on the topic.
Clark's first book,The Donkeys (1961), was arevisionist history of theBritish Expeditionary Force's (BEF) campaigns at the beginning of theFirst World War. The book coversWestern Front operations during 1915, including the offensives atNeuve Chapelle,Aubers Ridge andLoos, and ending with the enforced resignation ofSir John French as commander-in-chief of the BEF, and his replacement byDouglas Haig. Clark describes the battle scenes, and criticises the actions of several of the generals involved in the heavy loss of life that occurred. Much of the book is based on the political manoeuvres behind the scenes as commanders jostled for influence, and John French's difficulties dealing with his French allies and withLord Kitchener. Haig's own diaries are used to demonstrate how Haig positioned himself to take over command. The publication sold well, and is still in print 50 years after its first print run, being regarded as an important work on the British experience of the World War.
The book's title was drawn from the expression "Lions led by donkeys" which has been widely used to compare British soldiers with their commanders. In 1921Princess Evelyn Blücher published her memoirs, which attributed the phrase to OHL (the German GHQ) in 1918.[7] Clark was unable to find the origin of the expression. He prefaced the book with a supposed dialogue between two generals and attributed the dialogue to the memoirs of German generalErich von Falkenhayn. Clark was equivocal about the source for the dialogue for many years, but in 2007, his friend Euan Graham recalled a conversation in the mid-1960s when Clark, on being challenged as to the dialogue's provenance, looked sheepish and said, "Well I invented it."[8] This supposed invention emboldened critics ofThe Donkeys to condemn the work.
Clark's choice of subject was strongly influenced byLord Lee of Fareham, a family friend who had never forgotten what he saw as the shambles of the BEF. In developing his work, Clark became close friends with historianBasil Liddell Hart, who acted as his mentor. Liddell Hart read the drafts and was concerned by Clark's "intermittent carelessness". He produced several lists of corrections, which were incorporated, and wrote "It is a fine piece of writing, and often brilliantly penetrating."[9]
Even before publication, Clark's work came under attack from supporters of Haig, includingthe field marshal's son and historiansJohn Terraine,Robert Blake andHugh Trevor-Roper, former tutor to Clark, who was married to Haig's daughter.[10] On publication,The Donkeys received very supportive comments fromLord Beaverbrook, who recommended the work toWinston Churchill, andThe Times printed a positive review.[11] However, John Terraine[12] andA. J. P. Taylor[13] wrote damning reviews and historianMichael Howard wrote "As history, it is worthless", criticising its "slovenly scholarship". Howard nonetheless commended its readability and noted that descriptions of battles and battlefields are "sometimes masterly".[14]Field Marshal Montgomery later told Clark it was "A Dreadful Tale: You have done a good job in exposing the total failure of the generalship".[15]
In more recent years, the work has been criticised by some historians for being one-sided in its treatment of World War One generals.Brian Bond, in editing a 1991 collection of essays on First World War history, expressed the collective desire of the authors to move beyond "popular stereotypes ofThe Donkeys" while also acknowledging that serious leadership mistakes were made and that the authors would do little to rehabilitate the reputations of, for instance, the senior commanders onThe Somme.[16]
The historian Peter Simkins complained that it was frustratingly difficult to counter Clark's prevailing view.[17] ProfessorRichard Holmes made a similar complaint, writing that "Alan Clark'sThe Donkeys, for all its verve and amusing narrative, added a streak of pure deception to the writings of theFirst World War. Its title is based on 'Lions led by Donkeys'. Sadly for historical accuracy, there is no evidence whatever for this; none. Not a jot or scintilla. The real problem is that such histories have sold well and continue to do so. They reinforce historical myth by delivering to the reader exactly what they expect to read".[18] Clark's work was described as "contemptible" byHenry Paget, 7th Marquess of Anglesey who regarded Clark as the most arrogant and least respectable writer on the War, but the impartiality of this view may have been overshadowed by the fact that Anglesey's own history of the British Cavalry had been reviewed by Clark with the comments "cavalry are nearly always a disaster, a waste of space and resources."[19] Graham Stewart, Clark's researcher for a later political history that he would write entitledThe Tories, noted: "Alan wasn't beyond quoting people selectively to make them look bad".[20]
Clark went on to publish several more works of military history through the 1960s, includingBarbarossa in 1965 examining theOperation Barbarossa offensive of theSecond World War; he also tried his hand at novel writing, but none of the subsequent books were as commercially successful or drew the same attention asThe Donkeys had achieved, and he abandoned the path of military history in the mid-1970s to pursue a professional career in national politics.
Clark's first foray into politics was on the issue of theCommon Market, which he opposed.[21] With those beliefs, he joined theConservative Monday Club in 1968, and was soon chairman of its Wiltshire branch.[22] In 1971 he was blacklisted by Conservative Party Central Office for being too right-wing, but after representations by him, and others, he was removed from the blacklist.[23]
He unsuccessfully sought the Conservative selection forWeston super-Mare in 1970, missing out toJerry Wiggin.[24] He subsequently became MP forPlymouth Sutton at theFebruary 1974 general election with a majority of 8,104,[25] whenHarold Wilson took over fromEdward Heath as prime minister of a minority Labour government. At the General Election in October 1974, when Labour gained a small overall majority, Clark's vote fell by 1,192 votes, but he still had a comfortable majority with 5,188.[26] His first five years in parliament were spent on the Conservative opposition benches. He was still a member of the Monday Club in May 1975.[27] It is unclear when he let his membership of the club lapse, but possibly it was upon becoming a government minister. He continued to address Club events until 1992.
During the subsequent Party leadership contest he was urged byAirey Neave to vote for Margaret Thatcher, but he is thought to have favouredWillie Whitelaw.[26] The following year came the free vote on the Common Market and Clark, praisingEnoch Powell's speech, voted against. The next day he told the socialist MPDennis Skinner that "I'd rather live in a socialist Britain than one ruled by a lot of fucking foreigners."[28] Although he was personally liked byMargaret Thatcher, for whom he had great admiration, and the columnist George Hutchinson (who, writing inThe Times, tipped him for inclusion in the Shadow Cabinet),[29] Clark was never promoted to the cabinet, remaining in mid-ranking ministerial positions during the 1980s.
Clark received his first ministerial posting as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at theDepartment of Employment in 1983, where he was responsible for moving the approval of regulations relating to equal pay in the House of Commons. His speech in 1983 followed awine-tasting dinner with his friend of many years standing, Christopher Selmes. Irritated by what he regarded as a bureaucratically written civil-service speech, he galloped through the script, skipping over pages of text. The then-opposition MPClare Short stood up on apoint of order and, after acknowledging that MPs cannot formally accuse each other of being drunk in the House of Commons, accused him of being "incapable", a euphemism for drunk.[30] Although the government benches were furious at the accusation, Clark later admitted in his diaries that the wine-tasting had affected him. To date, he is the only Member of Parliament to have been accused in the House of Commons of being drunk at thedespatch box.
In 1986, Clark was promoted toMinister for Trade at theDepartment of Trade and Industry. It was during this time that he became involved withthe issue of export licences to Iraq, the Matrix-Churchill affair. In 1989, he became Minister for Defence Procurement at theMinistry of Defence.[31]
When Clark was Minister for Trade, responsible for overseeingarms sales to foreign governments, he was interviewed by journalistJohn Pilger who asked him:[32]
Clark left Parliament in 1992 following Margaret Thatcher's fall from power. His admission during theMatrix Churchill trial that he had been "economical with theactualité" in answer to parliamentary questions about what he knew with regard to arms export licences to Iraq, caused the collapse of the trial and the establishment of theScott Inquiry, which helped undermineJohn Major's government.[33]
Clark became bored with life outside politics and returned to Parliament as member forKensington and Chelsea in theelection of 1997, becoming critical ofNATO's campaign in the Balkans.[34][35]
Clark held strong views onBritish unionism, racial difference, social class, and was in support of animal rights,nationalistprotectionism andEuroscepticism[citation needed]. He referred toEnoch Powell as "The Prophet". Clark once declared: "It is natural to be proud of your race and your country", and in a departmental meeting, allegedly referred to Africa as "Bongo Bongo Land".[36] When called to account, however, Clark denied the comment had any racist overtones, claiming it had simply been a reference to the president ofGabon,Omar Bongo.[37]
Clark argued that the media and the government failed to pick out the racism towards white people and ignored any racist attacks on white people. He also, however, described the National Front chairman,John Tyndall, as "a bit of a blockhead"[38] and disavowed his ideas.
On his death in 1999, figures from all sides of politics paid tribute to Clark, though his critics remained.[39][40] Prime MinisterTony Blair spoke of Clark as "extraordinary, amusing, irreverent, but with real conviction and belief, and behind the headlines, kind and thoughtful."[39] And the Liberal Democrat,Simon Hughes, described him as "courageous, idiosyncratic, talented and principled.[39] However, journalistDominic Lawson criticised Clark as "sleazy, vindictive, greedy, callous and cruel", whileIon Trewin (subsequently his biographer) referred to Clark as "wonderful".[40]
Clark was a passionate supporter ofanimal rights, joining activists in demonstrations at Dover againstlive export,[41] and outside theHouse of Commons in support ofAnimal Liberation Front hunger-strikerBarry Horne.[42]
Clark kept a regulardiary from 1955 until August 1999 (during his second spell as aMember of Parliament) when he was incapacitated due to the onset of thebrain tumour which was to be the cause of his death a month later. The last month of his life would be chronicled by his wife, Jane. The diaries covering the period 1983 to 1992 were published after he left theHouse of Commons, deciding not to seek re-election to hisPlymouth Sutton seat. Published in 1993 and known simply asDiaries (although later subtitledIn Power), they have been recognised as a definitive account of the downfall of Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher. They caused a minor embarrassment at the time with their descriptions of senior Conservative politicians such asMichael Heseltine,Douglas Hurd, andKenneth Clarke. He quotedMichael Jopling – referring to Heseltine, deputy PM at the time – as saying "The trouble with Michael is that he had to buy all his furniture" and judged it "Snobby, but cutting".[43][44] Two subsequent volumes of his diaries cover the earlier and later parts of Clark's parliamentary career. The diaries reveal recurring worries aboutJapanese militarism but his real views are often not clear because he enjoyed making "tongue in cheek" remarks to the discomfiture of those he believed to be fools, as in his sympathy for a British version ofNational Socialism.[45]
Before his death in 1999, Clark had started work on theprequel to the 1983–1992Diaries to cover his entry in politics, from seeking a Conservative Association to adopt him as their Parliamentary Candidate in 1972 until the1983 general election. Published a year after his death, this volume was titledDiaries: Into Politics and covered 1972 to 1983.
The final volume, covering Clark's decision not to seek re-election at the1992 general election, his regret at leaving the House of Commons and then his return to Parliament, was published in 2002 and included Clark's final days dying from a brain tumour.
Throughout his diaries Clark refers admiringly toHenry "Chips" Channon and his diaries. He also quotesAdolf Hitler, to whom he refers as "Wolf".
The diaries include much reference to Clark's love of his chalet atZermatt, his Scottish estate atEriboll and the architecture of and country aroundSaltwood Castle, his home in Kent. Clark's fascination withclassic cars is also evident, as is his enthusiasm forbackgammon.
The Diaries were serialised into six episodes ofThe Alan Clark Diaries by theBBC and shown in 2004 withJohn Hurt andJenny Agutter.
In 1958, Clark, aged 30, married 16-year-old (Caroline) Jane, daughter ofColonel Leslie Brindley Bream BeuttlerOBE of theDuke of Wellington's Regiment and a descendant on her mother's side of the Scottish ornithologistWilliam Robert Ogilvie-Grant, grandson of the6th Earl of Seafield.[1][46][47] They were married for 41 years and had two sons:
His elder son James (who lived in Eriboll, a Scottish estate) died of a brain tumour on 15 August 2019, aged 59.[48]
While involved in the Matrix Churchill trial he was cited in a divorce case in South Africa, in which it was revealed he had had affairs with Valerie Harkess, the wife of a South African barrister, and her daughters, Josephine and Alison.[49] After sensationalist tabloid headlines, Clark's wife Jane remarked upon what Clark had called "the coven" with the line: "Well, what do you expect when you sleep with below-stairs types?" She referred to her husband as an "S, H, one, T".
Clark died at Saltwood Castle on 5 September 1999, aged 71, after suffering from a brain tumour.[50] His body was buried in the grounds of the castle. Upon his death, his family said Clark wanted it to be stated that he had "gone to join Tom and the other dogs."[51]
His death resulted in aby-election in his constituency, which was won by fellow ConservativeMichael Portillo, the formerSecretary of State for Defence.
In 1993 Clark gave a half-hourOpinions lecture, televised byChannel 4, of which he said in his diary: "It was good. Clear, assured, moving. I looked compos and in my 'prime'. Many people saw it. All were enthusiastic. Today acres of coverage inThe Times."[52] In 1997 Clark presented a four-part series for the BBC entitledAlan Clark's History of the Tory Party.[53]
In 2004,John Hurt portrayed Clark (andJenny Agutter his wife Jane) in the BBC'sThe Alan Clark Diaries, reigniting some of the controversies surrounding their original publication and once again brought his name into the British press and media. An authorised biography of Alan Clark by Ion Trewin, the editor of his diaries, was published in September 2009.
... despite the saturation coverage of the First World War in the 1960s, little was produced of lasting scholarly value because there was so little attempt to place the war in historical perspective; books such asThe Donkeys and films such asOh, What a Lovely War tell us as much about the spirit of the 1960s as about the period supposedly portrayed.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forPlymouth Sutton 1974–1992 | Succeeded by |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forKensington and Chelsea 1997–1999 | Succeeded by |