Ian Aitken | |
---|---|
Born | Ian Levack Aitken 19 September 1927
Airdrie,
Lanarkshire, Scotland |
Died | 21 February 2018 London, England | (aged 90)
Education | King Alfred School, London |
Alma mater |
Lincoln College, Oxford London School of Economics |
Occupation | Journalist |
Years active | 1953–2014 |
Employer | The Guardian |
Spouse |
Catherine Mackie
(
m. 1956; died 2006) |
Children | 2 |
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.
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]
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]
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]
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.
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