Ian Aitken (journalist)

Ian Aitken
Born
Ian Levack Aitken

(1927-09-19)19 September 1927
Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died21 February 2018(2018-02-21) (aged 90)
London, England
EducationKing Alfred School, London
Alma materLincoln College, Oxford
London School of Economics
OccupationJournalist
Years active1953–2014
EmployerThe Guardian
Spouse
Catherine Mackie
​
​
(m. 1956; died 2006)​
Children2

Ian Levack Aitken (19 September 1927 – 21 February 2018) was a British journalist and political commentator who was the political editor of The Guardian from 1975 to 1990.

Early life

Aitken was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.[1] His father, George, a Lanarkshire infantryman radicalised by his experiences in the first world war trenches, fought with the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.[2][3] George Aitken was also a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain; however, he resigned following the CPGB's support for the Hitler-Stalin Pact.[2]

Aitken grew up in London.[1] He was educated at the King Alfred School, Hampstead, Lincoln College, Oxford, and the LSE.[1] At Oxford he befriended the future politicians Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers. He appeared as an extra in the film A Matter of Life and Death.[1]

Aitken served in the Fleet Air Arm from 1945 to 1948.[4]

Career

Aitken entered journalism in 1953 as the industrial correspondent of the Tribune newspaper, after a spell as a HM inspector of factories and a trade union official.[1] The following year (1954) he joined the Daily Express and filled a number of positions at the paper before joining The Guardian in 1964, where for 10 years he was political correspondent.[4] From 1975 to 1990 he was The Guardian's political editor, succeeded by Michael White.[3] He continued to write for the newspaper until 1992, and then became a columnist for the New Statesman from 1993 to 1996.[1] He also wrote occasional unpaid columns for Tribune, under the title "Rattling the Bars", and continued to write until the age of 87.[5]

Political views

Politically Aitken was a Labour Party supporter who was in the 'traditional' left-of-centre (sometimes called 'classic labour'). He was against the Labour Left[1] and New Labour alike, accusing the latter of having "hijacked" the party. He was opposed to the Iraq War.[3]

Personal life

Aitken lived the majority of his life in Highgate, North London. In 1956, he married Catherine Hay Mackie, a doctor. She was the younger sister of John Mackie, Baron John-Mackie and George Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie.[1] Aitken and his wife had two daughters and were married until her death, from Alzheimer's disease, in 2006.[1]

In 1966, Aitken underwent an operation to have an eye removed, due to a tumour.[1][6]

Aitken died from a chest infection at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in London on 21 February 2018, at the age of 90.[1][7][8] Among those paying tribute to Aitken's life was the broadcaster Iain Dale.[9] His ashes were placed in the grave of his wife Catherine on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Langdon, Julia (2022). "Aitken, Ian Levack (1927–2018), journalist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380397. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b "Neither my father – who had been badly wounded in the Great War and was not long back from fighting on the losing side in the Spanish Civil War – nor my mother were under any illusions about what lay ahead." Ian Aitken, Equal and opposite wartime shame for left and right in World War II Archived 14 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine ". Tribune Magazine, 6 September 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  3. ^ a b c McKie, David (22 February 2018). "Ian Aitken obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b Dennis Griffiths (ed.) The Encyclopedia of the British Press 1422–1992, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.62
  5. ^ James Naughtie (@17:40-21:45). "Trevor Baylis, Lerone Bennett Jr, Penny Vincenzi, Ian Aitken, Sir Roger Bannister". Last Word. Radio 4. Retrieved 26 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Jackson, Harold (4 March 2018). "Letter: Ian Aitken obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  7. ^ Obituaries, Telegraph (9 April 2018). "Ian Aitken, political journalist – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  8. ^ Kakar, Arun (23 February 2018). "Former Guardian political editor Ian Aitkin dies aged 90". Press Gazette. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  9. ^ Dale, Iain (22 February 2018). "Very sad to read that former Guardian political editor Ian Aitken has died, aged 90". @iaindale. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
Media offices
Preceded by Political Editor of The Guardian
1975–1990 		Succeeded by