Journalism industry mourns passing of Joe Haines
Death of ex-union activist and press secretary to Harold Wilson.
Former journalist and NUJ member Joe Haines has died aged 97.
Although arguably best known as a former press secretary to Harold Wilson, Haines began his career as a copyboy at the Glasgow Bulletin before joining The Scottish Daily Mail in 1960 as a political correspondent.
From there he went to The Sun, then a left-leaning broadsheet before it was bought by Rupert Murdoch, where he became political editor. Wilson poached him to work in Downing Street and he became press secretary in 1969. The journalist described by a Labour spokesperson as "a brilliant writer" was reportedly vocal at NUJ meetings and held pay talks with unions.
He had two stints advising Wilson and went on to work for the Daily Mirror as political editor, assistant editor and a non-executive director.
Haines’ written work included an authorised biography of Robert Maxwell and a book called The Politics of Power. Latterly he was an occasional political commentator for outlets including the Daily Mail.
A Labour spokesperson said:
“Joe, who was 97, had two spells as press secretary to the former Labour prime minister in the late 1960s and mid-1970s, becoming one of his most trusted advisers.”
“The son of a Rotherhithe docker, who died when Joe was two, he was raised by his mother, a hospital cleaner. He left school at 11 and started his newspaper career as a copyboy at the Glasgow Bulletin at the age of 14.
“But it was as a political correspondent that he came into his own. He was covering politics for the Sun pre-Rupert Murdoch when Wilson asked him to be his press secretary.
“A fast and brilliant writer with an acerbic tongue, he won a reputation for toughness and loyalty in equal measure."