1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Alan Clark

Alan Clark Quotes

Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative Member of Parliament , author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991.

He was the author of several books of military history, including his controversial work The Donkeys , which is considered to have inspired the musical satire Oh, What a Lovely War!

Clark became known for his flamboyance, wit and irreverence. Norman Lamont called him "the most politically incorrect, outspoken, iconoclastic and reckless politician of our times". He is particularly remembered for his three-volume diary, a candid account of political life under Thatcher and a moving description of the weeks preceding his death, when he continued to write until he could no longer focus on the page.

Clark was a passionate supporter of animal rights, joining activists in demonstrations at Dover against live export, and outside the House of Commons in support of Animal Liberation Front hunger-striker Barry Horne. When he died after radiation therapy for a brain tumour, his family said Clark wanted it to be stated that he had "gone to join Tom and the other dogs."

✵ 13. April 1928 – 5. September 1999
Alan Clark photo
Alan Clark: 10 quotes0 likes

Famous Alan Clark Quotes

“I am not a fascist. Fascists are shopkeepers, I am a Nazi.”

Alan Clark

William Donaldson (ed.), Brewer's Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics (London 2002), p. 152.
Letter to the Guardian.

“You cannot come here because you are not white.”

Alan Clark

Quoted in his obituary in The Guardian, September 8, 1999 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,3899666-103684,00.html. <br class="br">In 1971 Clark said this should be the message given to refugees expelled by Idi Amin from Uganda who held residence rights in the UK.

“The trouble with Michael [Heseltine] is that he had to buy his own furniture”

Alan Clark

Attributed by Clark in his diaries to Michael Jopling. The full quote is &quot;An arriviste, certainly, who can&#x27;t shoot straight and in Jopling&#x27;s damning phrase &#x27;bought all his own furniture&#x27;, but who at any rate seeks the cachet. All the nouves in the party think he is the real thing.&quot; https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/aug/07/bbc.politicsandthemedia <br class="br">Misattributed

“I am confirmed in my opinion that it is hopeless here. All we can do is arm the Orangemen – to the teeth – and get out.”

Alan Clark

January 30, 1991; page 395.
On the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Diaries: In Power (1993)

“I fell into conversation with Douglas. His is a split personality. À deux he is delightful; clever, funny, observant, drily cynical. But get him anywhere near "display mode", particularly if there are officials around, and he might as well have a corncob up his arse. Pompous, trite, high-sounding, cautiously guarded.”

Alan Clark

January 29, 1988; page 198.
Diaries: In Power (1993)

“John Pilger: I read that you were a vegetarian and you are seriously concerned about the way animals are killed.
Alan Clark: Yeah.
John Pilger: Doesn’t that concern extend to the way humans, albeit foreigners, are killed?
Alan Clark: Curiously not.”

Alan Clark

Interviewed by John Pilger in the documentary Death of a Nation, broadcast on ITV February 22, 1994. <br class="br">The interview was transcribed in New Statesman and Society, February 18, 1994 http://www.hamline.edu/apakabar/basisdata/1994/02/21/0009.html.

Alan Clark Quotes

“I only can properly enjoy carol services if I am having an illicit affair with someone in the congregation. Why is this? Perhaps because they are essentially pagan, not Christian, celebrations.”

Alan Clark

December 17, 1985; page 125.
Diaries: In Power (1993)

“So what does it matter where it was when it was hit? We could have sunk it if it'd been tied up on the quayside in a neutral port and everyone would still have been delighted.”

Alan Clark

May 15, 1983; page 5.
On the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War.
Diaries: In Power (1993)

“I want to fire the whole lot. Instantly. Out, out. No "District" commands, no golden bowlers, nothing. Out … If I could, I'd do what Stalin did to Tukhachevsky.”

Alan Clark

April 3, 1990; page 291.
On reform of the General Staff, while he was Minister of Defence Procurement.
Diaries: In Power (1993)

“The only solution for dealing with the IRA is to kill 600 people in one night.”

Alan Clark

Spoken at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference, October 7, 1997. Reported in The Guardian, October 8, 1997 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/story/0,,451799,00.html

Similar authors

Margaret Thatcher photo
Margaret Thatcher348
British stateswoman and politician None
Bertil Ohlin photo
Bertil Ohlin11
Swedish economist and politician None
Les Brown photo
Les Brown24
American politician None
A.A. Milne photo
A.A. Milne169
British author None
Pietro Mennea photo
Pietro Mennea1
Italian sprinter and politician None
John Hicks photo
John Hicks14
British economist None
Alfred Hitchcock photo
Alfred Hitchcock45
British filmmaker None
J. J. Thomson photo
J. J. Thomson8
British physicist None
William Golding photo
William Golding79
British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Lite… None
Doris Lessing photo
Doris Lessing94
British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer … None