| Ian Aitken | |
| Birth Name: | Ian Levack Aitken |
| Birth Date: | 19 September 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| Education: | King Alfred School, London |
| Alma Mater: | Lincoln College, Oxford London School of Economics |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| Years Active: | 1953–2014 |
| Employer: | The Guardian |
| 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.
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.