My husband, Peter Kenyon, who has died aged 78, was a journalist in Brussels for the Sunday Times, Irish Times and the BBC. He held a range of posts at Reuters, including international marketing editor, economics editor and Westminster lobby correspondent. He was also a social entrepreneur, trade unionist and political organiser.
He was born in Liverpool, to Doreen (nee Harrison), a primary school teacher, and Frank Kenyon, an electrical draughtsman who died when Peter was seven. He was a boarder at the Royal Wolverhampton school and obtained a BSc in economics and politics at Hull University, and an MA in development economics at Leeds. We met at Hull and married in 1970.
We moved to London in 1977, when Peter joined Reuters. Locally, he chaired the Finsbury Park Action Group, and was integral to the campaign to elect Diane Abbott as Britain’s first Black female MP.
Peter worked for the Voluntary Committee on Overseas Aid and Development in the early 1990s, advising Judith Hart, the then shadow minister for development, on the relationship between the EU and the UK, and the impact of Britain’s membership on developing economies.
He co-founded the Finsbury Park Community Trust, hosting a visit from the then Prince of Wales. His proudest achievement was successfully chairing the Save the Reservoirs campaign – preventing both east and west reservoirs in Hackney from being built over by Thames Water. The sites are now a nature reserve and water sports centre.
He served as a Hackney councillor and chief whip from 1995 to 1998, chaired the Newham Community Health Services Trust and showed his dedication and leadership to promote and improve mental health care. He was elected as a member of the Labour national executive committee in 1995 and was clerk to the Labour commission. For the last 20 years he was an editor for Chartist – a democratic socialist magazine.
Peter loved music and played with local orchestras on double bass. He maintained his passion for gardening, encouraging his grandchildren to learn how to propagate, to cycle to the beach, or sail in Poole harbour, where we spent holidays.
He is survived by me, our children, Christopher, Jonathan, Elizabeth and Catherine, and nine grandchildren.
