Alan (Kenneth McKenzie) Clark - Early life, Career, Quotes, Books

British politician, military historian, and diarist. He studied at Oxford and was called to the bar in 1955. He was elected Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton (1974–92) and brought into government by Mrs Thatcher where he held posts at employment (1983–6), trade (1986–9), and defence (1989–92). He was involved in the arms sales to Iraq affair, contravening a UN embargo, during the Iran-Iraq war (1980–8), and was criticized in the Scott Report which censured the government for its handling of the Matrix Churchill affair. He left parliament before the 1992 general election but returned in 1997 as MP for Kensington and Chelsea.

Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark PC (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative politician, historian and diarist.

Early life

Alan Clark was the eldest son of the renowned art historian Kenneth Clark (later Lord Clark of Saltwood).

However, in more recent years this work has been condemned by some historians for being one-sided and failing to recognise the intelligence and humanity of the large majority of World War One generals.

Career

Clark entered Parliament as Member of Parliament (MP) for Plymouth Sutton in 1974 and served in various junior ministerial posts at the departments of Employment, Trade and Defence during the Thatcher governments of the 1980s.

He was an outspoken maverick with strong views on animal rights, Unionism, race, and class. After sensationalist tabloid headlines, Clark's wife Jane responded to what Clark had called "the coven" with the famous line: 'Well, what do you expect when you sleep with below stairs types?' and referred to her husband as a: 'S, H, One, T'.

Clark published his political and personal diaries in 1993, which caused a minor scandal at the time by their candid descriptions of senior Conservative politicians such as Michael Heseltine, Douglas Hurd and Kenneth Clarke. In particular they embarrassed former chief whip Michael Jopling, reported by Clark as having described the self-made Heseltine as being someone who "buys his own furniture". Two subsequent volumes of his diaries have covered the earlier and later parts of Clark's parliamentary career.

He became bored with life outside politics, however, and returned to Parliament as member for Kensington and Chelsea in the election of 1997. It has been claimed by Father Michael Seed that Clark converted to Roman Catholicism just before his death, but his widow denied this.

To date he is the only Member of Parliament to be accused of being drunk at the despatch box. Although the Government benches were furious at the accusation, Clark later admitted in his diaries that the wine-tasting had affected him.

After his death, his seat was contested and won by Michael Portillo.

A BBC TV serialisation of his Diaries in 2004 starring John Hurt re-ignited the controversy surrounding their original publication and once again brought his name into the UK press and media.

Quotes

On Himself (Quotes from Diaries, Vol.

On the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano

"So what does it matter where it was when it was hit?

To refugees expelled by Idi Amin from Uganda who held residence rights in the UK:

"You cannot come here because you are not white."

On Christmas:

"I only can properly enjoy carol services if I am having an illicit affair with someone in the congregation.

On Douglas Hurd:

"I fell into conversation with Douglas.

On reform of the General Staff, as Minister of Defence Procurement:

"I want to fire the whole lot.

On the Troubles in Northern Ireland:

"I concluded that the only solution is to arm the Orangemen - to the teeth - and get out."

On the topic of arms sales to Indonesia which were later used to brutally suppress an uprising in East Timor.

Books

Diaries: Three volumes 1972-1999 Volume 1 Diaries: In Power 1983-1992 (1993) Volume 2 Diaries: Into Politics 1972-1982 (2000) Volume 3 Diaries: The Last Diaries 1993-1999 (2002) The Donkeys, A History of the British Expeditionary Force in 1915 (1961) The Fall Of Crete (1963) Barbarossa, The Russo-German Conflict 1941-45 (1965) Aces High, The War in the Air Over the Western Front 1914-18 (1973) The Tories (1999) Suicide of Empires, Battles on the Eastern Front 1914-18 (1999) Backfire, A Passion for Cars and Motoring (2001)