The latest news and comment on politician and diarist Alan Clark
December 2022
Get Matt Hancock out of here: these are the political diaries worth reading
For windows on the corridors of power that were actually written contemporaneously, read this selection of books by MPs from left and right
September 2020
The Observer view on Sasha Swire’s insider diary of the past Tory decade
The comedy of manners reveals far more about the Cameron years than the author might want
August 2017
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 used by UK to boost weapon sales
Thatcher government saw war on Saddam as an ‘unparalleled opportunity’ to sell arms, declassified secret memos reveal
July 2017
From the Guardian archive
Death of a generation: Alan Clark's The Donkeys review - archive, 1961
28 July 1961: This seething book describes the destruction of the pre-war professional British Army in 1915 and the folly, stupidity and incompetency of the commanders
May 2015
Tory right lurk in the shadows, ready to pounce if David Cameron fails to prevail
If Cameron only just clings on to keys of No 10, then Conservative rightwingers may try to make Boris Johnson leader ahead of an October general election
March 2015
Observer business agenda
Sober Vince Cable won’t match sozzled Alan Clark
The actualité is that in this year’s ‘business election debate’, the business secretary will not be as entertaining as one of his ministerial predecessors
April 2014
Guardian diary
Diary: The judgment of Moses. Here cometh the regulator
Hugh Muir
Hugh Muir: And lo he will frown on blagging, hacking and the like
March 2014
Greenslade
Former Tory MP on 'the giants of journalism' and megalomaniac editors
Jerry Hayes recounts his experiences with Fleet Street's finest
September 2013
Political science
Berks, wankers and wonks: how to pitch science policy advice
If you want to advise policymakers about science, learn from Kingsley Amis and Alan Clark, argues Stian Westlake
August 2013
From the Guardian archive
Archive: Tory MP Alan Clark makes racist 'bongo bongo land' comment
Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom is not the first politician to be accused of using racial slur
September 2009
Alan Clark: The Biography by Ion Trewin
Politics blog
Alan Clark was a Nazi, says Dominic Lawson
March 2009
Politics blog
Clark and Brandreth's four rules for a great political diary
Andrew Sparrow: Tips from two of Westminster's best memoirists
October 2005
Simon Hoggart's sketch
Diarist's fine wines fetch £52,000
Simon Hoggart
They sold off Alan Clark's wine collection at Christie's yesterday. It was not an enormous quantity, but most of it was very good indeed, and the sale fetched £52,767.
July 2005
Dumbledore's death in the style of Alan Clark
June 2004
Coven's footnote to Clark diaries
In his diaries, Alan Clark called them the coven. Yesterday, the mother and two daughters with whom the former Tory minister went to bed collected substantial damages for a false claim that they had demanded money to keep quiet about it.
February 2004
Alan Clark bows out on a low
TV overnights: BBC4's six-part dramatisation of the Alan Clark Diaries, which began with a record audience of nearly 1 million, finished last night with just 153,000 viewers. By John Plunkett.
January 2004
Early promise fades for Alan Clark Diaries
TV overnights: The Alan Clark Diaries lost a quarter of its audience last night, but remains the most popular ever show on digital arts channel BBC4. By Jason Deans.
Alan Clark's diaries do have their place
I disagree with Roy Hattersley's objection to the BBC televising Alan Clarke's diary (A soggy souffle of self- regard, January 19).
Clark's diary pulls viewers to BBC4
The first episode of The Alan Clark Diaries delivered a record 1 million viewers for BBC4, providing a fillip for the corporation at the end of a bruising week.
