Alan Clark
Alan Clark | |
---|---|
Minister of State for Defence Procurement | |
In office 25 July 1989 – 14 April 1992 | |
Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | Constituency Created |
Succeeded by | Michael Portillo |
Member of Parliament for Plymouth 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 Saltwood, England | (aged 71)
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse |
(Caroline) Jane Beuttler
(m. 1958) |
Children | 2 |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Colin Clark (brother) |
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British
He was the author of several books of military history, including his controversial work The Donkeys (1961), which inspired the musical satire Oh, What a Lovely War!
Clark became known for his flamboyance, wit, irreverence and keen support of animal rights. Norman Lamont called him "the most politically incorrect, outspoken, iconoclastic and reckless politician of our times".[2] His three-volume Alan 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.
Early life
Alan Clark was born at 55 Lancaster Gate, London, the elder son of art historian Kenneth 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) and Colin, were born in 1932. At the age of six he began as a day boy at Egerton House, a preparatory school in Marylebone, and from there at the age of nine went on as a boarder to St 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 to Midhurst.
In September 1940, with the
Military history
Clark's first book, The Donkeys (1961), was a
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 1921 Princess Evelyn Blücher published her memoirs, which attributed the phrase to OHL (the German GHQ) in 1918.[6] 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 general Erich 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."[7] This supposed invention emboldened critics of The Donkeys to condemn the work.
Clark's choice of subject was strongly influenced by
Even before publication, Clark's work came under attack from supporters of Haig, including
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 of The 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 on The Somme.[15]
The historian Peter Simkins complained that it was frustratingly difficult to counter Clark's prevailing view.
Clark went on to publish several more works of military history through the 1960s, including Barbarossa in 1965 examining the
Political career
Clark's first foray into politics was on the issue of the
He unsuccessfully sought the Conservative selection for Weston super-Mare in 1970, missing out to Jerry Wiggin.[23] He subsequently became MP for Plymouth Sutton at the February 1974 general election with a majority of 8,104,[24] when Harold Wilson took over from Edward 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.[25] 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.[26] 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 by
First portfolios
Clark received his first ministerial posting as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the
In 1986, Clark was promoted to
When Clark was Minister for Trade, responsible for overseeing arms sales to foreign governments, he was interviewed by journalist John Pilger who asked him:[31]
- JP "Did it bother you personally that this British equipment was causing such mayhem and human suffering (by supplying arms for Indonesia's war in East Timor)?"
- AC "No, not in the slightest, it never entered my head. You tell me that this was happening, I didn't hear about it or know about it."
- JP "Well, even if I hadn't told you it was happening, the fact that we supply highly effective equipment to a regime like that is not a consideration, as far as you're concerned. It's not a personal consideration. I ask the question because I read you are a vegetarian and you are quite seriously concerned about the way animals are killed."
- AC "Yeah."
- JP "Doesn't that concern extend to the way humans, albeit foreigners, are killed?"
- AC "Curiously not. No."
Departure and return
Clark left Parliament in 1992 following Margaret Thatcher's fall from power. His admission during the
Clark became bored with life outside politics and returned to Parliament as member for
Clark held strong views on
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,
On his passing in 1999, figures from all sides of politics paid tribute to Clark; though his critics remained.[38][39] Labor's Tony Blair spoke of Clark as "extraordinary, amusing, irreverent, but with real conviction and belief, and behind the headlines, kind and thoughtful."[40] And the Liberal Democrat, Simon Hughes, described him as "courageous, idiosyncratic, talented and principled.[40] However, journalist Dominic Lawson criticised Clark as "sleazy, vindictive, greedy, callous and cruel", while Ion Trewin described Clark as "wonderful."[41]
Clark was a passionate supporter of animal rights, joining activists in demonstrations at Dover against live export,[42] and outside the House of Commons in support of Animal Liberation Front hunger-striker Barry Horne.[43]
Diaries
Clark kept a regular
Before his death in 1999, Clark had started work on the prequel to the 1983–1992 Diaries to cover his entry in politics, from seeking a Conservative Association to adopt him as their Parliamentary Candidate in 1972 until the 1983 general election. Published a year after his death, this volume was titled Diaries: Into Politics and covered 1972 to 1983.
The final volume, covering Clark's decision not to seek re-election at the 1992 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 to Henry "Chips" Channon and his diaries. He also quotes Adolf Hitler, to whom he refers as "Wolf".
The diaries include much reference to Clark's love of his chalet at
The Diaries were serialised into six episodes of The Alan Clark Diaries by the BBC and shown in 2004 with John Hurt and Jenny Agutter.
Personal life
In 1958, Clark, aged 30, married 16-year-old (Caroline) Jane, daughter of
They were married for 41 years and had two sons:- James Alasdair Kenneth Clark (born 1960, died 15 August 2019)
- Andrew McKenzie Clark (born 1962)
His elder son James (who lived in Eriboll, a Scottish estate) died of a brain tumour on 15 August 2019, aged 59.[49]
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.[50] 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".
Death
Clark died at Saltwood Castle on 5 September 1999, aged 71, after suffering from a brain tumour.[51] 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."[52]
Media
In 1993 Clark gave a half-hour Opinions lecture, televised by Channel 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 in The Times."[53] In 1997 Clark presented a four-part series for the BBC entitled Alan Clark's History of the Tory Party.[54]
In 2004, John Hurt portrayed Clark (and Jenny Agutter his wife Jane) in the BBC's The 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.
See also
Publications
- Bargains at Special Prices (1960).
- Summer Season (1961).
- The Donkeys: A History of the British Expeditionary Force in 1915 (1961).
- The Fall of Crete (1963).
- Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941–1945 (1965).
- The Lion Heart: A Tale of the War in Vietnam (1969).
- Suicide of the Empires (1971).
- Aces High: The War in the Air over the Western Front 1914–1918 (1973).
- 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 Tories: Conservatives and the Nation State 1922–1997 (1998).
- Backfire: A Passion for Cars and Motoring (2001).
Notes
- ^ a b Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 2003, vol. 3, p. 3551
- ^ "Thatcher leads Clark tributes". BBC News. London. 7 September 1999. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
- ^ Trewin pp. 16–61
- ^ Alleyne, Rihard (3 December 2004). "Oxford hellraisers politely trash a pub". .telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ Evelyn, Princess Blücher (1921). An English Wife in Berlin. London: Constable. p. 211. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ Trewin 2009, pp. 182–189.
- ^ Trewin p. 173.
- ^ Trewin 2009, pp. 153–177.
- ^ Trewin 2009, pp. 176–189.
- ^ The Sunday Telegraph (London). 16 July 1961
- ^ Taylor, A.J.P. (23 July 1961). "Dairies bring doom". The Observer. London. p. 19.
- ^ Howard, Michael (3 August 1961). "Review of 'The Donkeys'". The Listener. London: BBC.
- ^ Trewin 2009, p. 178.
- ISBN 978-0-19-822299-6. Archivedfrom the original on 15 June 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
... 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 as The Donkeys and films such as Oh, What a Lovely War tell us as much about the spirit of the 1960s as about the period supposedly portrayed.
- ^ Simkins, Peter (8 December 1996). The Sunday Times (London).
- ^ Holmes, Richard, Tommy, pp. xxi–xxii.
- ^ Trewin, p. 180.
- ^ Trewin p. 357.
- ^ Turner, Derek (1 December 2001). "Clark's Tale - Chronicles". chroniclesmagazine.org. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ISBN 978-0-297-85782-2.
- ISBN 9780297850731-I, pps: 230 & 246-7.
- ^ Clark, Alan Clark Diaries (2):In Power, p.271.
- ^ Trewin, p.245.
- ^ a b Trewin, p.250.
- ^ Copping, Robert, The Monday Club – Crisis and After, London, May 1975, p.25.
- ^ Trewin, p.250-1.
- ^ Trewin, p.251.
- ^ "Sex Discrimination". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 20 July 1983. col. 483–484. Archived from the original on 1 July 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
- ^ "Real Lives – Channel 4's Portrait Gallery". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 2 May 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
- ^ Pilger, John, Documentary:Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy, 1994.
- ^ Edmonds, David (December 2015). "The difference between lying and misleading". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ^ "Alan Clark: A clumsy war". BBC News. 13 May 1999. Archived from the original on 9 May 2004. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
- ^ 3 Alan Clark Diaries: The Last Diaries, Page 389, Phoenix Paperback 2003 Edition, 4 April 1999: "I am hugely depressed about Kosovo: Those loathsome, verminous gypsies; and the poor brave Serbs."
- ^ Financial Times 7 February 1985 "Tory minister faces row over race remark"
- ^ Clark, A. The Last Diaries: In and Out of the Wilderness, Phoenix, 2003, p.219.
- ^ "Channel 4 – The Real Alan Clark". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ "Alan Clark was not 'wonderful'. He was sleazy and cruel". The Independent. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ "Alan Clark was not 'wonderful'. He was sleazy and cruel". The Independent. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ISBN 978-0-7619-5312-8.
- ^ Clark, Alan. The Last Diaries: 1993–1999. Phoenix, p. 361.
- ^ Alan Clark Diaries: In Power 1983–1992 (Wednesday 17 June 1987) 1993 Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- ^ Gardham, Duncan (22 September 2008). "Lord Heseltine traces his roots to poverty in Wales". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ 1 Alan Clark Diaries: Into Power, Page 280, Phoenix Paperback 2000 Edition, 8 December 1981: Frank [Frank Johnson, sketch writer for The Times] pretended he wanted to talk about the Tory Party, but he really prefers to talk about the Nazis, concerning whom he is curious, but not, of course, sympathetic. Yes, I told him, I was a Nazi, I really believed it to be the ideal system, and that it was a disaster for the Anglo-Saxon races and for the world that it was extinguished. He both gulped and grinned 'But surely, er, you mean … (behaving like an unhappy interviewer in Not the Nine O'Clock News after, e.g., Pamela Stephenson had said something frightfully shocking) ideally in terms of administrative and economic policy … you cannot really, er …' Oh yes, I told him, I was completely committed to the whole philosophy. The blood and violence was an essential ingredient of its strength, the heroic tradition of cruelty every bit as powerful and a thousand times more ancient than the Judaeo-Christian ethic.
- ^ Alan Clark: The Biography, Ion Trewin, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009
- ^ Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 146th edition, ed. Charles Kidd, David Williamson, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2000, p. 1494
- from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ Dodd, Vikram (12 June 2004). "Coven's footnote to Clark diaries". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ^ "Alan Clark dies". The Guardian. 7 September 1999.
- ^ Lyall, Sandra. "Alan Clark, a British Scold, Is Dead at 71". The New York Times. 8 September 1999. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2021., The New York Times, 8 September 1999.
- ISBN 9780753816950
- ^ "Alan Clark's History of the Tory Party (TV Series 1997)". 14 September 1997 – via www.imdb.com.
References
- Trewin, Ion (2009). Alan Clark: The Biography. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-85073-1.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Alan Clark
- Portraits of Alan Clark at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Alan Clark (Daily Telegraph obituary).
- BBC: The Alan Clark I knew
- BBC Drama: The Alan Clark Diaries
- The Alan Clark Diaries at IMDb
- Guardian obituary
- Channel 4 biography
- Appearance on Desert Island Discs 25 August 1995