Jim Mortimer, who has died at the age of 92, was the general secretary of the Labour Party during the turbulent early eighties – perhaps the most difficult time to take on that role since the party was founded.

I was distantly related to Jim. An uncle of his, who gloried in the name of Fountain Mortimer, was married to my great-aunt. Also, Jim’s father, Willie Mortimer, was a close friend of my grandfather. It seems that they were both members of the Socialist Labour Party in the years before the first world war. That conflict seems to have destroyed the small, hard-left party, many of whose members joined Labour. Willie Mortimer, unlike my grandfather, was unable to serve in the war due to a disability. Continue reading →