Diaries: Into Politics: Into Politics Vol 2 - Softcover

Clark, Alan

3.93

145 ratings by Goodreads

9780753814147: Diaries: Into Politics: Into Politics Vol 2

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753814145 ISBN 13: 9780753814147

Publisher: Phoenix, 2003

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Alan Clark's Diaries are the best account of the last quarter of a century of British politics. For the hundreds of thousands of readers who were enthralled by the first volume, "The Early Years" will be an event. The long-awaited second installment of one of the great political diaries of the twentieth century. Here Alan Clark covers his apprentice years from his selection as Tory candidate for Plymouth Sutton in 1972 through three elections, the arrival of Margaret Thatcher, the winter of discontent to the triumph of the Falklands. His other enthusiasms not least his family, his home and his love of fast cars are never far away. Of the original volume of "Diaries", "The Times", in a rare accolade in a leading article wrote that 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 Toad's enthusiasm for new things, for Byrons cadishness, for its deadly candour, it is one of the great works in the genre.

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About the Author:

Alan Clark was Tory MP for Sutton (Plymouth) 1974-92 and more recently was MP for Kensington and Chelsea. He was Minister of Trade, 1986-89, Minister of State, Ministry of Defence 1989-92. His acclaimed works as a historian are referred to above. He died in 1999. Ion Trewin is a London publisher. Originally a journalist, he was Literary Editor of The Times 1972-79. He was Alan Clark's publisher from 1992 until his death, and has since edited two further volumes of Alan Clark's diaries. Married with a son and daughter, he has since 2006 been administrator of the Man Booker prizes. He was chairman of the Cheltenham Literature Festival 1996-2007.

Review:

With more than 300,000 copies of the original Diaries sold since their publishing caused a sensation in 1993, here is the long-awaited and posthumous "prequel". Starting in 1972, when Clark was searching for a parliamentary seat and at the same time was given Saltwood Castle in Kent by his father Kenneth Clark (of Civilisation fame), he chronicles election success in Plymouth, and early days in the Commons where Ted Heath has been deposed as leader of the Tories and replaced by Margaret Thatcher. There is Saltwood itself and the countryside surrounding it, there are birds (both feathered and human) and there is his family. At the same time bankruptcy threatens and he is only saved by a remarkable "find" inside Saltwood itself. The climax is the Falklands War - with revelations from a unique political animal with the inside track. At the same time this second volume has all the ingredients of fine writing and humour that made the first volume such a hardback and paperback bestseller. Clark's editor at Weidenfeld, Ion Trewin, also provides the introduction.

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