Jim Innes

Jim Innes who has died following a short and sudden illness, was an exceptional man. Journalist, trade unionist, political consultant and co-founder of the West Highland Free Press, Jim was not so much a bon viveur as a viveur – someone determined to get the most out of life irrespective of the circumstances. This meant paying close attention to whatever was said and whoever was saying it, giving equal weight to people and to their ideas to see what stood up to his forensic analysis. Jim had formidable, sometimes brutal intelligence but also great compassion and it was this unusual combination which made him unique.

Born in Stirling in 1947, his family had links with Cullen in Banffshire, but he grew up in Glasgow with an older brother and sister. His mother Agnes died when he had just started at Shakespeare Primary School and he later attended North Kelvinside Senior Secondary. His father James, a haulage manager, raised the family. In 1966, Jim struck out for Queen’s College, St Andrews University, soon to become the University of Dundee (1967). A restless spirit with a burgeoning intellect, his long, flaming red hair and revolutionary sartorial style became well-known at the University and in the city and he was latterly Vice President of the Students Union, before graduating in History. It was at University he made the acquaintance of the future Labour Minister Brian Wilson and, along with Wilson, myself and Dave Scott, he moved to the Isle of Skye to found the West Highland Free Press, in 1972. His general abhorrence of orthodoxy drew some strange looks in Skye at first but, once again, his character and personality shone through and he became a respected reporter, particularly (and rather curiously) in the world of shinty. Jim recognised the cultural importance of the sport and the fact that it received very little publicity at the time. He also showed a keen interest in the great contemporary music of the day and was a good sportsman who represented Skye in local football tournaments.

By the late seventies the newspaper was still facing financial challenges, but it was reasonably well-established and Jim moved, initially back to Glasgow where he worked for Findlay’s News Agency, then to London where he served first as a press officer with the Transport and General Workers Union and then in a similar role for the Labour Party. It was a difficult time for the Party – particularly the poor management of the 1983 General Election which Jim exposed in a damning and influential article - but he retained the respect and trust of many senior media figures and politicians including Jack Cunningham MP who later recommended him as a consultant to the trade unions in the nuclear industry. He returned to Scotland in the mid 1980s, worked as a news reporter on Radio Forth and, for a while, presented a Sunday phone-in for Radio Tay. Politics, however, was his driving passion and he really began to make his mark as a strategist at the two Paisley bye-elections of 1990 when he resolved to help bring better organisation to the Labour Party campaigns in Scotland. At this point he made an important reunion with Jim Tait, a Glaswegian communications professional whom he had first met in Greenock during his news agency period. The pair set up IT Campaigns (later InnesTait) and began to share great success with a resurgent Labour Party and numerous commercial organisations whilst retaining their commitment to the often-beleaguered nuclear workers.

In 1987 he married Rhoda MacKinnon of Portree and the couple lived first in the village of Ardler, then Dundee before creating another lovely family home near Meigle. Two children, Alick and Bess, were born – no-one valued his family more – and with Brian Wilson now engaged in Ministerial affairs, Jim and I returned to the West Highland Free Press in the 1990s where he, as Chairman, managed to achieve something which had eluded the paper for twenty years – financial stability and, indeed, profitability. The newspaper was sold in a workers’ buyout in 2009 – the first of its kind in the UK newspaper industry. He stayed active in politics and was very proud of his offspring who, by then, had both graduated. Indeed, Jim’s natural curiosity meant that he always had an interest in what young people were doing and thinking. In 2014, he was greatly animated by the Scottish Referendum and resolute in his belief that Scotland’s future would be best served by retaining its links with the Union.

A great man and dear brother, he is survived by Rhoda, Alick and Bess, his brother Alec, and sister Marion.

Jim Wilkie