Alan Clark

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

Related Topics:
April 13 - 1928 - September 5 - 1999 - British - Conservative

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Alan Clark was the eldest son of Lord Clark of Saltwood. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied law. He did not practice however, and instead became a military historian. His first book, The Donkeys (1961), was a revisionist history of British involvement in the Great War, which was well received by the public but which greatly irritated the Army. However, in more recent years this work has been condemned by some historians for being too one-sided and failing to recognise the intelligence and humanity of the large majority of World War One generals. It was the inspiration for the popular pacifist musical Oh! What a Lovely War, though Clark himself was not pleased with the adaptation. He produced several more respected studies of the First and Second World Wars, before becoming involved in politics.

Related Topics:
Lord Clark of Saltwood - Eton - Christ Church, Oxford - Revisionist - Great War - Army - Pacifist - Musical - Oh! What a Lovely War - First - Second World Wars

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Clark entered Parliament as 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.

Related Topics:
Parliament - MP - Plymouth Sutton - 1974 - Defence - Thatcher - 1980s

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He was an outspoken maverick with strong views on animal rights, Unionism, race and class. Although he was personally liked by Margaret Thatcher, she never entrusted him with high office and he left Parliament in 1992 following her fall from power. His admission during the Matrix Churchill trial that he had been 'economical with the actualité in answer to parliamentary questions over export licences to Iraq caused the collapse of the trial and caused the Scott Inquiry into Arms-for-Iraq, which helped undermine John Major's government. At the same time he was cited in a divorce case in South Africa in which it was revealed he had had affairs with the former wife and her two daughters. Clark's wife responded, to what Clark had called "the coven", with the famous line: 'Well, what do you expect when you sleep with below stairs types?'.

Related Topics:
Animal rights - Unionism - Race - Class - Margaret Thatcher - 1992 - Matrix Churchill - Arms-for-Iraq - John Major - South Africa

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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". The account of Thatcher's downfall in 1990 has been described, by some reviewers, as the most vivid that we have. Two subsequent volumes of his diaries have covered the earlier and later parts of Clark's parliamentary career.

Related Topics:
1993 - Michael Heseltine - Douglas Hurd - Kenneth Clarke - Michael Jopling - 1990

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He became bored with life outside politics, however, and returned to Parliament as member for Kensington and Chelsea in the election of 1997. He died in 1999 of a brain tumour. It has been claimed by Father Michael Seed that Clark converted to Roman Catholicism just before his death, but his widow denied this.

Related Topics:
Kensington and Chelsea - Election of 1997 - 1999 - Brain tumour

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To date he is the only Member of Parliament to be accused of being drunk at the despatch box. In 1983 while at Employment he was making a reading of a bill in the Commons after a heavy lunch with Ian Gow, who was later assassinated by the IRA. As the complexities of the bill were too unclear for him to answer questions, Clare Short accused him of being drunk. Although the Government benches were furious at the accusation Clark later admitted she was correct.

Related Topics:
Drunk - Despatch box - Ian Gow - IRA - Clare Short

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

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

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