My friend Mitch Howard, who has died aged 71, was a respected trade union journalist. In 1989 he was appointed editor of the Teacher, the magazine of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), a post he held until his retirement in 2006, making him the longest serving editor to date.
He was born in Sutton, Surrey, and grew up in Southampton, the son of Bunt, a laundry manager, and Peggy, a hair stylist. Mitch attended the local King Edward’s school, where what he recalled as the a culture of snobbery and conformity played a large part in shaping his radical politics. After taking a degree in English at Sheffield University, he entered journalism via freelance writing for the music press, notably Beat Instrumental and Record Mirror.
Having joined the Young Communists as a teenager, Mitch later became a fluctuating Labour party member, basing his decision to stay or go on the extent to which the party represented his socialist ideals. His career included work for the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section (Tass) of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, later merged with the MSF (Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union). As Mitch’s own political thought matured, his wise counsel earned him the respect of general secretaries including Tass/MSF’s Ken Gill and the NUT’s Doug McAvoy and Steve Sinnott.
During his time at the NUT Mitch took the Teacher from a hot metal-composed tabloid to a 44-page digitally produced magazine. Writing was a craft at which he never stopped working and fear of being named on his Jargon Wall of Shame was an incentive to everyone to maintain his high standards. His office door was always open (even on press day, although one had to tread lightly) and everyone from cleaner to executive officer would drop by for a bit of a “daily Mitch”.
He was an accomplished drummer, guitarist and blues vocalist who performed with many bands over the years. His loyalty to Triumph bikes and Southampton FC was also steadfast. Above all he treasured time spent with family and friends, whether in the pub, walking in the countryside, jamming with his sons, on ride-outs with the Triumph gang or exploring Europe with his wife, Jenny, in their camper van.
Although Mitch thought he would be forgotten after he retired, demand for his skills remained constant. His last engagement, one he considered an honour, was to be selected to write the history of the NUT from 1870 to 2017. He did not live to see that through, but the history will be written and Mitch will have left his mark on it.
He is survived by Jenny (nee Secker), his partner since 1995, whom he married in 2006, and by his sons, Bill and Ed, from his first marriage to Coral, which ended in divorce, and his sister, Carolyne.
