Ian Aitken is a British journalist and political commentator. He was educated at the King Alfred School, Hampstead, Lincoln College, Oxford

Lincoln College, Oxford

Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...

 and the LSE

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

. He served in the Fleet Air Arm

Fleet Air Arm

The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

 from 1945-48.

Aitken entered journalism in 1953 as the industrial correspondent of the Tribune

Tribune (magazine)

Tribune is a democratic socialist weekly, founded in 1937 published in London. It is independent but supports the Labour Party from the left...

newspaper, after a spells as a HM inspector of factories and a trade union official. The following year (1954) he joined the Daily Express

Daily Express

The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...

and filled a number of positions at the paper before joining The Guardian in 1964. From 1975 to 1990 he was The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

's political editor.

He now writes occasional columns for that paper and for Tribune. Politically he is 'traditional' left-of-centre (sometimes called 'classic labour'), being against the Iraq War, and having accused 'New Labour' of having 'hijacked' the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

.

Ian Aitken's father, George, fought with the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

.