Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel

46: 311: 341:, but feared that they were preparing to exert their power well beyond their prewar sphere of influence. He voiced deep-seated concerns about Soviet expansionism for the first time in a lengthy memorandum on Soviet policy dated 31 August 1944. He then forecast three likely results of the war: the removal of any immediate threat to Soviet security, the consolidation of Stalin's dominant position and the Soviet use of communist parties in other countries to serve the interests of "Russia as a state as distinct from Russia as a revolutionary notion". This closely resembled the conclusions that 472:

In these dark days man tends to look for little shafts of light that spill from Heaven. My days are probably darker than yours, and I need, my God I do, all the light I can get. But I am a decent fellow, and I do not want to be mean and selfish about what little brightness is shed upon me from time

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and facilitated a number of Anglo-Soviet diplomatic conferences. His work there and at the Big Three Conferences (such as Yalta and Potsdam) put him at the centre of international politics during the final pivotal years of the Second World War. Throughout his posting in Moscow, he unsuccessfully

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sought clearer direction from the Foreign Office in London. He often fell back upon a directive received from Churchill in February 1943: "You want a directive? All right. I don't mind kissing Stalin's bum, but I'm damned if I'll lick his arse!"

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and unconventional in manner, he was sometimes suspected of excessive understanding for the Soviet position. His biographer, Donald Gillies, considered the rumoured pro-Soviet sympathies to be highly unlikely.

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An Australian-born Scot, Lord Inverchapel was born Archibald John Kerr Clark, the son of John Kerr Clark (1838–1910), originally from Lanarkshire, Scotland, and Kate Louisa (1846–1926), daughter of Sir

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to time. So I propose to share with you a tiny flash that has illuminated my sombre life and tell you that God has given me a new Turkish colleague whose card tells me that he is called Mustapha Kunt.

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in 1906. Early on, he made the mistake of challenging the Foreign Office over its Egyptian policy. Consequently, he found himself posted to a series of capitals in

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As the war neared its end, Kerr became increasingly concerned about Soviet plans for the postwar world. He did not think the Soviets planned to begin spreading

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Kerr's personal life has been described as colourful. A bisexual, as a young diplomat he lived in Washington with Major Archibald Butt (a military adviser to

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We all feel like that, Reggie, now and then, especially when Spring is upon us, but few of us would care to put it on our cards. It takes a Turk to do that.

326: 259: 202: 1246: 486:, the daughter of Don Javier Díaz y Lira and Doña Ventura Salas y Edwards. He died in July 1951, aged 69. The barony died with him, as he had no children. 406:), and Butt's partner, the artist Frank Millet. When he returned to the city 35 years later as British ambassador, he raised eyebrows "by going to stay in 270: 255: 1256: 1221: 1123: 1042: 263: 1251: 1096: 1015: 1266: 1069: 247: 283:

He argued for British aid to China based upon humanitarian concerns, the preservation of British economic influence and the principle of national

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and spent most of his posting explaining why Britain could not offer him any substantive aid in his struggle against the Japanese invaders.

1286: 968: 1276: 933: 457: 927: 825: 360:'s superior in Washington, he took their defection to the Soviet Union badly. The affair also cast a shadow over his career. 226:. His family emigrated to England in 1889. In 1911 he assumed the surname of Kerr in addition to that of Clark. He attended 1281: 810: 227: 1143: 964: 466:

in 1978 with the comment that "an acquaintance has been delving among the Foreign Office records for the war years".

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before his marriage, divorce and remarriage to a Chilean woman 29 years his junior. Politically on the left, a noted

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was almost completely destroyed by Japanese bombing in 1940, other diplomatic missions evacuated, but he kept the

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He is best remembered in the public imagination for a much reproduced note he is said to have written in 1943 to

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The Sunday times bedside book II : the best of contemporary writing from one of the worlds great newspapers

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In 1929, he married a woman belonging to the Chilean aristocracy, Doña María Teresa Díaz y Salas, of

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In the ensuing years, Inverchapel developed a close relationship with the Nationalist Chinese leader

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He distinguished himself enough in these posts to secure a prestigious appointment as

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From November 1948 to January 1949 he was a member of the British delegation to the

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Erik Goldstein, 'Kerr, Archibald John Kerr Clark, Baron Inverchapel (1882–1951)',

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Minister of the United Kingdom to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador

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Radical diplomat: the life of Archibald Clark Kerr, Lord Inverchapel, 1882–1951

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