As a representative of the Labour party staff, I had the task of negotiating with Jim Mortimer when he was general secretary. I thought that this would be difficult, given Jim's long experience in the trade union movement.
Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Indeed Jim, with his old-fashioned courtesy, felt slightly awkward in his role as the employer. When there was clearly a need to restructure Labour party head office, he found it almost impossible to make anyone redundant.
When I once mentioned to him that I had once been a Labour party parliamentary candidate for the true blue seat of Petersfield, Jim told me that when he was a 17-year-old engineering apprentice in Portsmouth he would travel to Petersfield on a Saturday morning and preach socialism in the town square. Jim Mortimer embodied that rare combination of hardline socialism and soft humanitarianism.
Keith Flett writes: As a labour historian, I came across Jim Mortimer in academic seminars and conferences after he stepped down from his position. Whether one agreed or not with his specific take on this or that issue or event, it was obvious that here was someone with a deep interest in the labour movement, who was not planning retirement or preferment to the Lords, but instead to discuss and write about the history of the movement he had served. I'm not the greatest fan of general secretaries, but Mortimer was one who had the stature for the role.