British politician
Alan Clark
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tr ...
kept a regular
diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
from 1955 until August 1999 (during his second spell as a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
) when he was incapacitated due to the onset of the
brain 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.
*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)
Alan Clark published his diaries covering the period 1983 to 1992 after he left the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, deciding not to seek re-election to his
Plymouth Sutton
Plymouth, Sutton was, from 1918 until 2010, a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
History
Pl ...
seat. Published in 1993 and known simply as ''Diaries'' (although later subtitled ''In Power''), they have been recognised as a definitive account of the downfall of Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
.
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
Sir Henry Channon (7 March 1897 – 7 October 1958), often known as Chips Channon, was an American-born British Conservative politician, author and diarist. Channon moved to England in 1920 and became strongly anti-American, feeling that Amer ...
and his diaries. He also quotes
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, to whom he refers as "Wolf".
The diaries include much reference to Clark's love of his chalet at
Zermatt
Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) ...
, his Scottish estate at
Eriboll
Eriboll (Scottish Gaelic: Earabol) is a village in Sutherland, Scotland. The village is situated on the south eastern shore of Loch Eriboll, in the northern part of the former county of Sutherland.
The main A838 coast road connects the village ...
and the architecture of and country around
Saltwood Castle
Saltwood Castle is a castle in Saltwood village, one mile (2 km) north of Hythe, Kent, England. Of 11th century origin, the castle was expanded in the 13th and 14th centuries. After the Norman Conquest, the castle was appropriated by the Ar ...
, his home in Kent. Clark's fascination with
classic cars
A classic car is an older car, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary.While other languages, such as German and Dutch, may refer to classic cars as "oldtimers", this usage is unknown in English, where "old-timer" refers to an elder ...
is also evident, as is his enthusiasm for
backgammon
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
.
The Diaries were serialised into six episodes of ''
The Alan Clark Diaries
''The Alan Clark Diaries'' is a 2004 BBC television serial dramatising the diaries of the controversial British Conservative politician Alan Clark. The six-episode series debuted on BBC Four on 15 January 2004, and was later repeated on BBC Two ...
'' by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, about to seek re-election at the 1983 general election. The Conservatives were expected to win the election, following the recent
, and Clark expected to be promoted from the back benches.
Early on in the diaries, Clark records the death of his father, the author, broadcaster and art historian
, Kent.
In the very next entry in the diary, we get an insight into one of Clark's recurring lapses with the opposite sex. His opponent at the election, the Labour candidate, was 22-year-old Frances Holland, of whom Clark records;
Clark is, at this time, also carrying on an adulterous affair with Valerie Harkess, the wife of a South African judge, and her two daughters (to whom he referred collectively as "the coven"). Clark made no effort to disguise the coven's identity. The affair became public knowledge in 1992 after Clark left the House of Commons, and it was cited in the Harkess divorce case.
{{Tony Blair