Aitken Ian

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

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. From 1975 to 1990 he was The Guardian's political editor. He wrote occasional columns for that paper and for Tribune.

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, fought with the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. 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.