Synopses & Reviews
For that first volume of
Diaries Alan Clark plundered the nine years he served as a junior mininster in Mrs. Thatcher's government. But keeping a diary had long been a way of life for him. Just how he came to enter the House of Commons and serve as a backbencher is at the centre of this long-awaited new volume.
And what years they are! In politics and at home the old order changeth. The country is in disarray and then comes the Falklands War. In "The Lady's" triumph, as Clark confides, he hopes for his own preferment. His father hands over Saltwood Castle, but money is tight and the bank threatening. Classic cars are traded, paintings are bought and, sometimes, sold. George, a young jackdaw, takes up residence in the kitchen and causes havoc when he goes missing. And there is even a dastardly tale of blackmail.
Nor is it just politics. These earlier years offer delight and frustration in equal measure. Alan Clark is the first to admit his foibles, his self-doubts. No matter. When he strays it is always to his wife, Jane, his sons and to Saltwood that he returns.
Review
"With his Diaries, he has written himself into the life of our times with a panache and candour that ranks him next to Boswell or Pepys." The Times