Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving until 1997), and was a member of the cabinet during John Major's premiership from 1994 to 1995. That same year, he was accused by The Guardian of misdeeds conducted under his official government capacity. He sued the newspaper for libel in response, but the case collapsed, and he was subsequently found to have committed perjury during his trial. In 1999, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, of which he served seven months.
For the Canadian hockey player, see Johnathan Aitken.
Jonathan Aitken
John Major
Constituency established
South Thanet (1983–1997)
Thanet East (1974–1983)
30 August 1942
Dublin, Ireland
Conservative (1966–2004)
UKIP (2004–2007)
4, including Alexandra
Following his imprisonment, Aitken became a Christian and later became the honorary president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 2019.
Family[edit]
Aitken's parents were Sir William Traven Aitken, KBE, a former Conservative MP, and The Honourable Penelope, Lady Aitken, MBE, JP, daughter of The 1st Baron Rugby.[1][2] Aitken is a great-nephew of the newspaper magnate and war-time minister, The 1st Baron Beaverbrook. His sister is the actress Maria Aitken and his nephew is the actor Jack Davenport. He is godfather to James Abbott, the son of Labour left-winger Diane Abbott.[3]
In 1979, Aitken married Lolicia Olivera Azucki, a daughter of O. Azucki of Zürich, Switzerland; they divorced in 1998.[2] With his first wife, he had twin daughters and one son,[2] Alexandra and Victoria Aitken,[4] and William Aitken respectively.[5][6]
Aitken married his second wife, The Hon. Elizabeth Harris, daughter of The 1st Baron Ogmore, TD, PC, and former wife of actors Richard Harris and Sir Rex Harrison, in June 2003.[2]
In 1999, DNA testing confirmed that Petrina Khashoggi, putative daughter of billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, was Aitken's biological child, the result of an affair with Khashoggi's wife Soraya (née Sandra Daly).[2][4]
The paternity of Aitken himself has similarly been under question. In December 2008, Dutch historian Cees Fasseur said Aitken was the result of a wartime affair between Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and Penelope Aitken.[7]
Early life[edit]
Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland. His grandfather, Sir John Maffey (who was created The 1st Baron Rugby in February 1947), was the first official British representative to the newly independent Irish state, being appointed in October 1939, at a time when Anglo-Irish relations were strained but improving. Maffey's official title was "United Kingdom Representative to Éire". Aitken was baptised on 16 October 1942 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, an Anglican church, and he was named "Jonathan William Patrick Aitken". The third name, "Patrick", was included at a late stage owing to the unexpected international importance of the occasion –- one of the Irish papers reported "British envoy's grandson is a real Paddy". The Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, who knew his grandparents, asked to attend the christening and his presence at the baptism was symbolic of improving Anglo-Irish relations. Also attending was Princess Juliana (later to become Queen Juliana of the Netherlands) as his godmother.[8]
Aitken contracted tuberculosis, and at four years of age was admitted to Cappagh Hospital, Dublin, where he was an inpatient on a TB ward for more than three years, being cared for and educated by Catholic nuns. His father was severely injured as an RAF pilot when his Spitfire was shot down during the Second World War.[8]
Aitken recovered and was discharged from the hospital aged seven. He lived with his parents at Halesworth, Suffolk, and learnt to walk properly again within a few months.[8]
Aitken attended Eton College and read law at Christ Church, Oxford.[9] His career initially followed a similar path to the post-war career of his father, who became a journalist and then the Conservative Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds.[8]
Journalism and business[edit]
He served as a war correspondent during the 1960s in Vietnam and Biafra, and gained a reputation for risk-taking when he took LSD in 1966 as an experiment for an article in the London Evening Standard and had a bad trip: "this drug needs police, the Home Office and a dictator to stamp it out".[9][10]
He was also a journalist at Yorkshire Television from 1968 to 1970, presenting the regional news show Calendar. Aitken was the first person to be seen on screen from Yorkshire Television when it began broadcasting.[11]
In 1970, Aitken was acquitted at the Old Bailey of charges of breaching section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, when he photocopied a report about the British government's supply of arms to Nigeria, and sent a copy to The Sunday Telegraph and to Hugh Fraser, a pro-Biafran (Nigerian Civil War) Tory MP. As a result of the case he was dropped as the Conservative candidate for the Thirsk and Malton parliamentary constituency.[12][13]
Aitken was managing director of the Middle Eastern division of Slater Walker in 1973–75 and chairman of R. Sanbaar Consultants Ltd from 1976 to at least 1982,[14] and a director of arms exporting firm BMARC from 1988 to 1990.[15]
Libel, arrest and prison[edit]
Libel action[edit]
On 10 April 1995, The Guardian carried a front-page report on Aitken's dealings with leading Saudis. The story was the result of a long investigation carried out by journalists from the newspaper and from Granada Television's World in Action programme. The Guardian also alleged Aitken, when Minister for Defence Procurement, procured prostitutes for Arab businessmen. Granada's World in Action programme repeated the accusation in a television documentary called Jonathan of Arabia.[18][19]
Aitken had called a press conference at the Conservative Party offices in Smith Square, London, at 5 p.m. that same day denouncing the claims and demanding that the World in Action documentary, which was due to be screened three hours later, withdraw them. He said:
Works[edit]
The Young Meteors[edit]
In his early book The Young Meteors (London: Secker & Warburg, 1967; New York: Atheneum, 1967), Aitken profiled the brightest lights among the younger generation in Britain, and particularly London, with a hint in the title that many of these were likely to burn and crash. Hunter Davies, one of the people profiled, has pointed out that such lists of the promising were then common in The Sunday Times, but unusual as books.[47] Much later, Craig Taylor in 2003 observed that those profiled who were still burning brightly included Michael Caine, David Bailey, Twiggy, David Frost and Don McCullin. Taylor found it humdrum, but: