T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) described his war-time chief as "the perfect leader," a man who "worked by influence rather than by loud direction. ... He was like water, or permeating oil, creeping silently and insistently through everything. It was not possible to say where Clayton was and was not, and how much really belonged to him." This is the first biography of General Sir Gilbert Clayton (1875-1929), Britain's pre-eminent "man-on-the-spot" during the formative years of the modern Middle East.

T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) described his war-time chief as "the perfect leader," a man who "worked by influence rather than by loud direction. ... He was like water, or permeating oil, creeping silently and insistently through everything. It was not possible to say where Clayton was and was not, and how much really belonged to him." This is the first biography of General Sir Gilbert Clayton (1875-1929), Britain's pre-eminent "man-on-the-spot" during the formative years of the modern Middle East.