Ian Aitken (journalist)

Ian Levack Aitken (19 September 1927 – 21 February 2018)^[1] was a British journalist and political commentator. He was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire and educated at the King Alfred School, Hampstead, Lincoln College, Oxford, and the LSE. He served in the Fleet Air Arm from 1945 to 1948.^[2]

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. 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.^[2] From 1975 to 1990 he was The Guardian's political editor, succeeded by Michael White.^[1] He also wrote occasional unpaid columns for Tribune, under the title "Rattling the Bars", and continued to write until the age of 87.^[3]

Politically he was 'traditional' left-of-centre (sometimes called 'classic labour'), being against the Iraq War, and having accused 'New Labour' of having 'hijacked' the Labour Party.

Ian Aitken's 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.^[4]^[1] 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.^[4]

References

1 2 3 McKie, David (22 February 2018). "Ian Aitken obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
1 2 Dennis Griffiths (ed.) The Encyclopedia of the British Press 1422–1992, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.62
↑ James Naughtie (@17:40-21:45). "Trevor Baylis, Lerone Bennett Jr, Penny Vincenzi, Ian Aitken, Sir Roger Bannister". Last Word. Radio 4. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
1 2 "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 ". Tribune Magazine, September 6th, 2009. Retrieved October 14th 2013.

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[obituary-1] 1 2 3 McKie, David (22 February 2018). "Ian Aitken obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2018.

[Griffiths-2] 1 2 Dennis Griffiths (ed.) The Encyclopedia of the British Press 1422–1992, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.62

[Naughtie-3] James Naughtie (@17:40-21:45). "Trevor Baylis, Lerone Bennett Jr, Penny Vincenzi, Ian Aitken, Sir Roger Bannister". Last Word. Radio 4. Retrieved April 26, 2018.

[ia-4] 1 2 "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 ". Tribune Magazine, September 6th, 2009. Retrieved October 14th 2013.