In November 1935, after the general election, he was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for War and appointed to the Privy Council. (He used to deliver the army estimates, including figures, without notes – something of a party piece which drew people into the Chamber to watch.) Since his calls for rearmament put him at odds with most of the Conservative leadership, he was surprised when the new Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appointed him First Lord of the Admiralty in May 1937. He enjoyed the job but refused to tone down his views. Napsal šest knih, včetně autobiografie Old Men Forgeta biografie francouzského diplomata Talleyranda. Je také autoremrománu Operace Heartbreak(1950). Alfred Duff Cooper na své svatbě s Lady Dianou Mannersovou v roce 1919 Mládí a manželství [ editovat | editovat zdroj ] Turning to literature, he produced Talleyrand (1932), a short biography that was published by his nephew Rupert Hart-Davis to critical praise and lasting success. [7] The 1931 by-election for the constituency of UK Parliament constituency saw the Empire Free Trade Crusade party threatening the Conservative position at a time when satisfaction with Baldwin's leadership was at a low. When the original Conservative candidate stepped down, Duff Cooper agreed to contest the election in what was regarded as a referendum on Baldwin's leadership. He won the seat with a majority of 5,710, thus returning to Parliament and serving until 1945. [8]

When Winston Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, he appointed Cooper as Minister of Information. He also served as Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster (July 1941 - November 1943). In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “The Jelly-bean”, the character Nancy Lamar states that she wants to be like Lady Diana Manners. Doble, Anna (25 May 2010). "The Queen, the PM, William IV and his mistress" . Retrieved 3 March 2022. Cooper was created 1st Viscount Norwich in 1952. his sixth and final book was his autobiography, Old Men Forget, which appeared on 5 July 1953. The book has a valedictory ending for he was already ill with the cirrhosis of the liver that was to kill him in is sixty-fourth year. He admitted that he had consistently drunk more than was good for him, but wine was one of the greatest pleasures of his life and he did not regret it. He died on New Year’s Day 1954.

Sheppard, Ben; Alderson, Andrew (8 January 2006). "Revealed: Duff Cooper's secret second son". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 27 April 2006 . Retrieved 1 May 2010. It was not a popular choice in the Manners household, since the bride’s parents had hoped for a marriage to the Prince of Wales.

Anthony Haden-Guest (17 April 2017). "When Venice Threw The 'Ball of the Century' ". Daily Beast . Retrieved 20 August 2020.

Described by the judges as a “compelling and immensely readable” depiction of Britain’s national experiment with republicanism between 1649 and 1660, the book was said to breathe “life and light into a decade too often overlooked.” First elected to Parliament in 1924, he lost his seat in 1929 but returned to Parliament in the 1931 Westminster St George's by-election, which was seen as a referendum on Stanley Baldwin's leadership of the Conservative Party. He later served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for War and First Lord of the Admiralty. In the intense political debates of the late 1930s over appeasement, he first put his trust in the League of Nations, and later realised that war with Germany was inevitable. He denounced the Munich agreement of 1938 as meaningless, cowardly, and unworkable, as he resigned from the cabinet. Following Duff Cooper’s retirement in 1947, they continued to live in France at Chantilly, until his death in 1954. He was created Viscount Norwich in 1952, for services to the nation, but Lady Diana refused to be called Viscountess Norwich, claiming that it sounded like “porridge”. I had thought that this would be the feeling of most people, but it was not. Great bitterness arose within the ranks of the Conservative Party and among their supporters. Political acquaintances cut me, and one old friend, a member of the executive committee of my constituency, on learning that I was to speak at a ward meeting which had been arranged to take place in his house, cancelled the meeting rather than allow me to cross the threshold. Artemis Cooper, chair of the panel of judges, said: “Anna Keay writes with a clear grasp of the political conundrums of the times; what makes The Restless Republic so compelling are the stories of the men and women who lived through them. People like the agile turncoat Marchamont Nedham, editor of Mercurius Politicus, who created popular propaganda for the Commonwealth; or the formidable Countess of Derby, who held one of the last royalist redoubts in Isle of Man; or Gerrard Winstanley’s Levellers, who tried to grow food on common land in Weybridge and Cobham — an idea too radical to gain much support among the landowners of Surrey.