Former Tory minister and Westcountry MP Alan Clark was famous for his amorous escapades,

revealed in his imfamous diaries. Now a new official biography reveals his love-hate relationship
with the South West. David Wilcock reports.

ALAN Clark. The name is today synonymous with politicians' extra-curricular activities. The
philanderer's philanderer.

It was after he left parliament in 1992 that the revelations about his private life exploded with the
publication of his now infamous diaries.

They revealed his lusts and loves, from the wives of judges to Margaret Thatcher (very pretty ankles
apparently). They also revealed his disdain for his political peers, those he thought unworthy of
office above him. But they did not reveal all.

Now, 10 years after his death from a brain tumour at the age of 71, a new biography lifts the lid on
further revelations, including what he really thought about his Plymouth Sutton constituency, which
he represented from 1974 to 1992.

It reveals that the South West seat was far from his first choice. Though he initially went for a seat
in Weston-Super-Mare, when MP David Webster died suddenly at the age of 43 in 1966.

But the biography's author, Ion Trewin, who was Clark's publisher and editor of his diaries for more
than a decade, was given access by the former MPs' widow, Jane, to previously unseen papers at his
home in Kent. Saltwood.

Delving among the papers he found references to lovers previously unknown, including a young
dancer, Pamela Hart, whom he convinced to have an abortion.

There is also some suggestion he may have been involved in espionage shortly after the Second
World War.

Closer to home in the Westcountry, they reveal that far from being his first choice, the Plymouth
Sutton seat he held for almost 20 years was far from his first choice.

They reveal that he applied to stand in seats all over the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a
time of political upheaval.

Aldershot, Chertsey, Cirencester and Tewkesbury, East Surrey, Erith and Crayford, Hartlepool,
Knutsford, Nottingham Central, Romford and Newcastle Centra are all named on papers as places
he thought would lead him to what he wanted most – entry to the political world in Westminster.

His diary noted how downbeat he was about winning the Sutton seat in 1974, and pleased when he
got it, but it soon went downhill. A year on, the biography notes his“disdain” for Plymouth. The
reason? Constituents and local party members daring to demand he act like their constituency MP
and getting in the way of his goal – power.

“Alan always used to say 'I love politics, but it is a pity we have to have constituencies',” Trewin
said.

“He loved the Westcountry, but the fact that he had to have MP surgeries and 'sit and listen to
people moaning', that was the bit he disliked the most. He and Jane loved Devon, they had a house
there and it was great to have a constituency within 40 miles of it. But his constituency could have
been anywhere for him, he was passionate about the idea of being a politician.”

Captivated by the political intrigue in the capital, and with his main home on the other side of the
country in Kent, coming to Devon to attend to business was seen as both a chore and, at times, a
time of relief. A chore when he was loving the high life, a relief when the politics and affairs
became too much.

Still, can anyone described by Norman Lamont as "the most politically incorrect, outspoken,
iconoclastic and reckless politician of our times” be all bad?

Despite his early praise for “rivers of blood” Conservative politician Enoch Powell, Clark did have
some local political successes. A former soldier, his main area of interest was defence. He raised the
issue of Devonport Dockyard workers' affected by asbestosis (despite opposition from former
Plymouth MP Michael Foot) and the need of special pay for officers at Dartmoor Prison. Nationally
his stock was rising also, by the end of the 70s he was known as the “elegant Plymouth
reactionary”.

The rest of his political career is widely known from his diaries, the first volume of which covered
1983 to 1992. His attempts to gain high office – eventually dashed – his affair with “the coven”,
Valerie Harkness, the wife of a judge, plus her two daughters. And documenting the fall of Margaret
Thatcher. And of course, his imfamous “bongo-bongoland” comments on immigration.

Despite this behaviour, Mr Trewn, a former Westcountry journalist and literary editor of the Times
turned publisher, who is now literary director of the Man Booker prize, is in no doubt he “served
Plymouth well”.

“The city still has a dockyard. He might not have been a good constituency MP but he had a passion
for the military.”

That the dockyard has fallen on hard times since would doubtless be a source of sorry for him.
Trewin admitted that despite his faults as a human being and his questionable flirtation with far-
right politics, “I do like him”, ageeing that the raconteur, whose former careers included being a
novellist and car salesman, would find being thought of as boring the worst possible thing.

“At times he did behave badly,” Trewin said.

“His philandering is not something I found easy to accept. But I found him never less than
enthralling. He lived such a rich life, with so many aspects to it. There are not many MPs who, ten
years after their death, are still being talked about.”

Clark died in 1999, two years after being re-elected the safest of safe Tory seats, Kensington and
Chelsea in West London.

Five years in the wilderness, even at his advanced age, made him realise how much he missed it. So
he came back in from the cold, for an encore right at the heart of political life and intrigue, the place
he felt most at home.

Alan Clark: the Biography, by Ion Trewin, is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (£25).