Alan - DIARIES: IN POWER

The best diarists, from Pepys and Boswell to Chips Channon and Harold Nicolson, have been the souls of indiscretion. But none so indiscreet as Mr Clark. If he is made the scapegoat for the Matrix Churchill affair, he may be written down politically as Baroness Thatchers little loose cannon. But literature and the great British game of gossip will judge him for his diary. For its Pooterish self-assessment, for Mr Toads enthusiasm for new things, for Byrons caddishness, for its deadly candour, it is one of the great works in the genre

Frank and vivid diaries... Mr Clark performs the invaluable service of cheering us all up and giving us something to talk about

The Times

Unputdownable David Mellor,

Mail on Sunday

Diaries are the raw material of history and these are elegantly and pungently written Sir Charles Powell,

The Times

These amazing diaries... a marvellous exposure of the way the Tory Party really works

Ian Aitken,

Hampstead and Highgate Express

Absorbing... staggeringly, recklessly candid... tells the truth as he saw it without fear or favour

Anthony Howard,

Sunday Times

A wonderful book... these diaries combine the naive candour of an Adrian Mole with the imagination of a devil and an angel Matthew Parris,

Sunday Telegraph

The best political book for at least a decade. It is unlikely that Thatcher, when her autobiography is published, will provide such an entertaining and incisive account of the personalities, scandals and conflicts of her years in office

The Scotsman

The sheer fun of politics shines through... this wonderful book Robert Rhodes James,

Guardian

For my beloved Jane, around whose cool and affectionate personality there raged this maelstrom of egocentricity and self-indulgence

Diaries are so intensely personal to publish them is a baring, if not a flaunting, of the ego. And for the author also to write a preface could be thought excessive.

Let me explain. These are not Memoirs. They are not written to throw light on events in the past, or retrospectively to justify the actions of the author. They are exactly as they were recorded on the day; sometimes even the hour, or the minute, of a particular episode or sensation.

I wrote, in longhand, in a variety of locations; principally at Saltwood, or in my room at the House of Commons, or at my desk in the Department(s). Also in trains, embassies, hotels abroad, at the Cabinet table in Number 10 and at international conferences. When I had completed an entry I closed the notebook and seldom turned to that page again.

During the whole of this period, nearly eight years, I was a Minister in three successive Tory administrations. Politics Party, Governmental and Constituency dominated my life and energies. But on re-reading the entries I am struck by how small a proportion less than half is actually devoted to the various themes that dominated political life over the period.

So, in order to help those who want only to read selectively, I have allotted an abbreviated title to practically every entry and these can be found listed, with their separate dates, at the start of each Chapter (each year in the period constituting a chapter).

Expurgation, from considerations of taste or cruelty, I have tried to keep to a minimum. My friends know me, and know that I love them, and that my private explosions of irritation or bad temper are of no import. And as for taste, it, too, is subjective. There are passages that will offend some, just as there are excerpts that I myself found embarrassing to read when I returned to them.

Much of course has been excised. But of what remains nothing has been altered since the day it was written. Is this conceit or laziness? A bit of both, I suppose. But I found that when I attempted to alter, or moderate, or explain, the structure and rhythm of the whole entry would be disturbed.

There remain certain passages that vex me considerably. Mainly they refer to friends and colleagues with whom I have worked or who have worked for me with loyalty and dedication: for example, Dave, my competent driver for many years; Rose, my sweet diary secretary at DTI who coped with harassment with dignity and decorum; Bruce Anderson, one of my closest confidants; Tom King, Secretary of State above me in two departments, whom I still regard with affection in spite of the way in which we treated each other in the heat of our political careers. And there are many others to whom references coloured by the irritation of the moment are ill-suited.

There are also passages that, to some readers, will be unintelligible. Family joke-words, Eton slang, arcane references to events in the past, crude expletives, all these are present but I have done my best to illuminate the unfamiliar in a glossary that covers events, locations, individuals and so forth.

Sometimes lacking in charity; often trivial; occasionally lewd; cloyingly sentimental, repetitious, whingeing and imperfectly formed. For some readers the entries may seem to be all of these things.

But they are real diaries.

Jane

James ACs eldest son (aka Boy, Jamie)

Sarah James first wife

Sally James second wife

Andrew ACs younger son (aka Tip, Lilian)

Colette ACs sister (aka Celly)

Colin ACs brother (aka Col)

Ming Colins third wife

Christopher ACs nephew (son of Colin and Ming)

Lord Clark (aka Bonny papa) ACs father

BMama (aka Bonny mama) ACs mother

Nolwen, Comtesse de Janz ACs stepmother

Aunt Di one of Janes aunts

Eddie groundsman at Saltwood

William butler at Saltwood

Linley Lord Clarks butler at the Garden House

Nanny (aka Greenwood) nanny to James and Andrew, lived in a grace and favour cottage on the Saltwood Estate

Newy governess to AC and Colette

Miss Newman Newys sister, occasionally substituted for her and strongly disliked by the children

Juliet Frossard ACs secretary in Wiltshire

Anna Koumar the Clarks housekeeper in Wiltshire

Tom Jack Russell terrier

Max a tame jackdaw at Saltwood

Eva Janes Rottweiler

Joan ACs driver at DE

Dave ACs driver at DTI

Pat ACs driver at MoD

Jenny Easterbrook Head of ACs Private Office at DE

Judith Rutherford her successor

Matthew Cocks, Marjorie and Glyn Williams successive Heads of ACs Private Office at DTI