This book is a collection of the diary letters of Austen Chamberlain from 1916 to 1937. These letters provide a valuable insight into the political life of one of the leading Conservative politicians of the inter-war period, and constitute a detailed record of Conservative and national politics at this time. They provide particularly valuable personal accounts of key events such as the negotiations of the Irish Treaty in 1921, the troubles leading to the Carlton Club revolt of October 1922, the Locarno agreements of 1925, the leadership crisis of 1930–1, and the backbench campaign against the German threat in the 1930s. Chamberlain felt free to express his most candid feelings and emotions in the privacy of these diary letters and, as a result, they throw much valuable light upon arguably one of the most misjudged politicians of the age, and one who has certainly been overshadowed by his more famous father and half-brother.

Table of Contents:
Preface; Editor's Note; Introduction: Austen Chamberlain, 1863–1937: the man and his diary letters; 1. 'Time's strange revenges': coalition and the India Office, November 1916–July 1917; 2. 'One ought to be useful where one can': committees and commissions, August 1917-April 1918; 3. 'I feel bound to serve': the war cabinet, April 1918-January 1919; 4. 'The times make everything extremely difficult': the Treasury, January 1919–April 1921; 5. 'How strange is fate': the leadership, March–December 1921; 6. 'Fighting one's one friends is hateful work': coalition troubles, January –October 1922; 7. 'D … politics: cultivons notre jardin': into the wilderness, November 1922–December 1923; 8. Return of the 'exer ex-ministers': the opposition front bench, December 1923–November 1924; 9. 'The true author of European peace': the foreign office, the League and Locarno, December 1924–December 1926; 10. 'What a troubled world it still is': the foreign office after Locarno, January 1927–June 1929; 11. 'B. M. G … 'Baldwin (this time) must go!': the frustrations of opposition, June 1929–July 1931; 12. 'I am going through mental hell': political crisis and the Admiralty, August–December 1931; 13. 'These are not really my proper jobs': searching for a role January 1932–April 1933; 14. 'I continue very loquacious!': leading from the backbenches, April 1933–June 1935; 15. 'Sly, sir, devilish sly!': the torments of Baldwin, July 1935–March 1937.