Duff Cooper: The Authorized Biography

by John Charmley

Politician, diplomat, scholar, lover, gambler and bon viveur, Duff Cooper lived life to the full. After winning the DSO in the First World War, he wooed and married the greatest beauty of the day, Lady Diana Manners. Becoming a politician, Duff Cooper had an important ministerial career until his resignation over the Munich Agreement. Called back to office by Churchill, his chequered wartime career culminated in a successful spell as Ambassador to France. 'Duff Cooper was beyond question one of the most interesting and colourful pulic figures of his time. John Charmley has written his life with clarity, subtlety and - as most befits the subject - style.' John Grigg, Observer 'Mr Charmley's biography is well researched, of genuine interest, and, above all, admirably fair.' Philip Ziegler, Sunday Times

Genres: Biography

265 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 1986

About the author

John Denis Charmley was a British academic and diplomatic historian. From 2002 he held various posts at the University of East Anglia: initially as Head of the School of History, then as the Head of the School of Music and most recently as the Head of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Humanities. From 2016 he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic strategy at St Mary's University, Twickenham. In this role he was responsible for initiating the University's Foundation Year Programme, reflecting Professor Charmley's commitment to widening educational access.

Reviews

[Bert Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

While histories about what led to the Hitler War usually focus on the rise of the Nazis in German politics, it is also worth looking into the people and circumstances in England before the war. This biography casts light on just these, as do others--such as the excellent `Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England,' by Lynne Olson; the more gossipy but also compelling social study `The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm,' by Juliet Nicolson; and (her father) Nigel Nicolson's `Portrait of a Marriage,' a biography of (his parents) Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, and their unique marital arrangement.
This biography of Duff Cooper shows him involved in issues during Britain's final days as a world power. Like the other books, it gives us a glimpse of how the ruling classes lived and thought, and, like Olson's book, on how they responded to the looming Nazi crisis.
Cooper was an upper-crust political figure of some consequence under Chamberlain, Lord Halifax and Churchill. An elected member of Parliament between the wars, he was an effective diplomatic appointee under Churchill during the war and after it. Also a man of letters, while playing his part in British affairs he enjoyed drunken declamations of poetry with Hilaire Belloc, HG Wells and other literary chums.
During the tedium of official meetings he apparently composed amusing sonnets, and also came to author half-a-dozen well-received books. Most were biographies: of Talleyrand, the biblical David, Shakespeare as a youth, and one fact-based novel on the famed "man who never was." This involved an actual MI5 caper in which he had participated, where a cadaver with false military plans for an Allied landing in German-occupied Europe had been placed in an airplane wreck to throw the Germans off the Allies' real aim. The book sold well, and even became a successful movie.
Cooper married one of the leading lights of London society, Lady Diana Manners, even though he lacked both money and looks (she called him "Mr Duffy Dumpling."). Although a known poet and eloquent conversationalist by then, he was no fan of small-talk. He believed that "...one should be a little interested in everything. It makes life more interesting for oneself and it makes one less boring to others."
Uproarious parties and the company of the raffish and eccentric were more Lady Diana's speed. She had many suitors, but when one after another died in the First war, her appreciation grew for Duff's attentions and witty letters from the front. The match was resisted by her family, the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, since Cooper's reputation was as an industrious drinker, gambler and womanizer--yet one of slender means. But they gave in to her wishes when they saw it was no whim.
Cooper once said: "I like to have a secret love affair, a hidden life, something to lie about" (p. 214 f.), yet he kept little about his affairs from beautiful but frigid Lady Diana. Not being inclined toward such gratification, it was a relief for her that he wanted other lovers. While he was ambassador to France, Cooper installed one of his lovers in the Parisian embassy. Far from minding, Diana even consoled her at least once when they realized that Duff was away on another dalliance. Just as Duff's sisters and parents had indulged him, being the youngest, Diana also let him do as he pleased. As long, for Diana, as she was adored in return, and if she could keep up her starring role in society. In fact, if mutual support and adoration are the ingredients of a successful marriage, theirs was a triumph. (This was no exception for their class, as yet another source indicates: Lady Diana herself came to learn that a neighbouring aristocrat, not the Duke of Rutland, was her biological father.)
Cooper could be a fairly dissipated bon vivant, but the career diplomats who accused him of being a dilettante overlooked his hard work and achievements. He was responsible for mediating between Churchill and de Gaulle during the war--no enviable task, given their mutual distrust and vanity. After the war, he promoted the view that the European democracies should form a union to safeguard against threats from undemocratic regimes.
Most important, though, Cooper was the first Briton to sound the alarm about Hitler, alerting even Churchill, as far back as the early 1930s, of the Nazi menace. For years he also agitated for an appropriate response, to no avail. His signal moment was resigning over Chamberlain's folly that diplomacy with Hitler could provide genuine peace. In a magnificent speech to Parliament he said Britain's betrayal of the Czechs had been shameful, ending his political career overnight.
Readers are reminded about the notorious `phony war' that Chamberlain presided over before he ceded power to Churchill. A seeming lack of will at the very top, even after war had been declared, failed to mobilize the country aggressively to a war-like footing. This infuriated both Cooper and Winston. Chamberlain is now widely regarded as a gullible upper-class twit--waving his sheet of paper like some unknown flag of surrender--but before the war his support among the ruling Conservatives and the press was widespread. And on his return from Munich he was hailed by most of the British public.
Those in the minority stood silent. This included Churchill, who would not disparage the one who had brought him into the cabinet. Cooper was deluged with sympathetic mail upon his principled resignation, but he had to bear the brunt of his protest until the country came around to his view.
Meantime, the ever-politic Churchill was waiting out his moment.
Recommended.