Fact File
Who: Alan Clark
Occupation: diarist, historian and Conservative MP for Kensington and Chelsea
Why in the news: he caused a political storm at the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool this week when he told a fringe meeting the only solution for dealing with the IRA "is to kill 600 people in one night".
It should have been the first day of the Tory fightback. Instead, after an "off-the-cuff" remark from Alan Clark suggesting that the way to deal with the IRA was "to kill 600 people in one night", the Tory leader, Mr William Hague, was forced to disown this particular "dinosaur". And the sketchwriters dished up the first scalp of the Tory conference. Then, as if Clark's comments weren't enough to keep the Tory spin doctors rushing around on a damage limitation exercise, next in line was Lord Tebbit. Multiculturalism, he suggested, was "a divisive force", and British children, whatever their ethnic background, should be taught that British history was their history, otherwise Britain would become "a Yugoslavia".
In his own defence, and giving full vent to the characteristic "Clark bark", Alan Clark professed not to know what all the fuss was about. For an MP who is known to revel in the cut and thrust of political intrigue, it is not the first time he has faced the furore of his colleagues.
It was during his first stint as an MP from 1974 to 1992 in the Tory heartland of Plymouth Sutton that Alan Clark's penchant for politically incorrect views came to the public's attention. The former Tory chancellor, Kenneth Clarke, well known for his liking of cigars and rich food, was described as "a pudgy puffball", while the former foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd, was dismissed in one line. "He might as well have a corncob up his arse," Clark said.
He was born on April 13th, 1928, the son of the life peer Lord Kenneth Clark, who became widely known as "Lord Clark of Civilisation" after he wrote a hugely popular television series on the history of art, which was broadcast in 1969. Alan Clark attended Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, before a spell in the Household Cavalry (Training Regiment). In 1955, and by now a trained barrister, he was called to the Inner Temple, where he was known for his passionate stands against foxhunting and Americans. The latter he once described as a civilisation of "Chesterfields and chewing gum". He entered parliament as the MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1974 and rose through the ranks to hold a number of high-level posts including Secretary of State at the Department of Employment from 1983 to 1986 and Defence Minister from 1989 to 1992. It was as Defence Minister that Clark was implicated in the alleged sale of British weapons to the Iraqi regime, which led to a move into the political wilderness. But it was the publication of his political diaries that established his reputation as an unrepentant philanderer.
Few politicians of his generation could have described the Iron Lady's ankles in the way Alan Clark did. He "admired" her ankles first and then he admired her mind. But as one colleague says: "He's absolutely brilliant and a pure joy," and another: "People admire his outspokenness and the way he conducts his life. He is what he is and he doesn't ponce around." The diaries may have been intended as a "bit of fun" after dinner parties at his home in Saltwood Castle, Kent, but "vanity" took over and soon the rest of the Tory party and beyond read about his adoration of women. Writing on February 18th, 1984, he recalled how his boredom with political life was relieved by his affairs with the "complex creatures". "Yesterday I travelled down by train, and a plump young lady came into my compartment at Waterloo . . . I gave her a huge grin, couldn't help it. After a bit I moved over and sat beside her." In a later entry he confessed the full details of the meeting. "Bonking on train? I honestly don't think the public would mind. I don't see how it could."
Another admission - that he "seduced" a family friend, Hilary Harkess, and her two daughters - prompted James Harkess to call for Clark to be "horsewhipped". It was a comment he could not resist replying to. He said drily: "I probably deserve to be horsewhipped." In 1992 he resigned his Plymouth Sutton seat days before the general election and almost immediately let it be known that he wanted to return to Westminster, but his path to the Lords was blocked by his role in the arms-to-Iraq affair. Several colleagues suggest that the problem with Alan Clark is that he has been passed over for high office so many times he has been politically forgotten. He disputes the analysis. "That's not the problem at all," he said this year. "The problem is I haven't been forgotten. I've been remembered." He used his time away from politics to write a four-part television series on the history of the Tory party, the last part of which, dealing with the election defeat of May 1st was screened on BBC2 on the eve of the party conference. It was during the production of the series, watching John Major preside over the collapse of his beloved party, that his thoughts returned to politics.
"I'm a political junkie. I couldn't stay away from it," he said, explaining his decision to stand again in May for the Kensington and Chelsea seat. The Tory party "was going all flaky", and he wanted to ride to the rescue. On winning the seat, he informed his constituents that at the age of 69 his playboy phase was over.