I was sorry to read that Harold Wilson’s former Press Secretary Joe Haines has died at 97. He has a place in Labour History. He wrote Wilson’s speeches from 1969 to 1976 although he was later critical of him.
In 2018 on the letters page of the New Statesman Joe Haines described my letter writing as ‘pointless’. Although I’m not sure quite where I came into the debate I think such mild criticism from Cde Haines can probably be understood as veiled praise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Haines_(journalist)
Tom McNally, Jim Callaghan’s speech writer noted that Haines was ‘very judgemental of others’ (Times Obituary 20th February 2025) so clearly I was just caught in some late crossfire here.
Ironically Haines used the money from writing a biography of Robert Maxwell (who he had worked for as leader writer at the Mirror) to buy a substantial property in Tunbridge Wells. Missives were regularly despatched but not with the byline ‘disgusted’
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