William Aitken (politician)

Sir William Traven Aitken, KBE (10 June 1903 – 19 January 1964) was a Canadian-British journalist and politician who was an MP in the UK parliament for 14 years.

When the Second World War broke out, Aitken joined the Royal Air Force and piloted fighter reconnaissance aircraft; he was severely injured in 1945 and invalided out.

At the 1945 general election, Aitken was the Conservative Party candidate who attempted to recapture West Derbyshire; he lost by only 156 votes.

In 1948, Aitken was adopted as Conservative candidate for Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, in succession to Geoffrey Clifton-Brown who was standing down.

His support for the Commonwealth made him distrust attempts to have the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Rome.