Alan Shute obituary

Other lives: Trade union negotiator for civil and public servants who represented sacked GCHQ workers in the Thatcher era

My father, Alan Shute, who has died aged 92, was a tenacious and principled trade union negotiator who rose to become assistant general secretary of the National Union of Civil and Public Servants (NUCPS). He was involved in many high-profile negotiations, including representation of some of the sacked GCHQ workers in 1984, when the Thatcher government banned trade union membership for employees.

Originally a customs officer, after several years of voluntary union work Alan was appointed as a full-time negotiator for the Society of Civil Servants trade union in 1969. Around the same time, he was the first member of the society to appear on television – in an episode of The Eamonn Andrews Show discussing purported benefit fraud – and was interviewed by the Guardian soon after about working conditions in DHSS offices.

Colleagues described him as knowledgable and thoughtful in his approach, with one saying: “He was straightforward and honest, which wasn’t always the case either among management or other union colleagues.”

Born in Southampton, Hampshire, to William, a stevedore, and Winifred (nee Thorne), a cook who trained at the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes, Alan grew up during the wartime blitz on the city – his family were forced to move several times due to the bombings, and his uncle was killed in a direct hit on the Supermarine aviation works.

After Itchen grammar school, and national service in the RAF, Alan started working for customs and excise, first in Glasgow, then Coventry and finally at Heathrow, before leaving to work full time for his union. Made assistant general secretary of the NUCPS in 1975, he gained a reputation as a calm negotiator and persuasive speaker, and was a great raconteur.

Alan was a staunch Labour party member all his life and, after retiring in 1990 to Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland, with his second wife, Anne Maclean, whom he married in 1982, chaired the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey branch of the party for a number of years. His campaigning expertise and advice were hugely appreciated by the branch, as well as his unwavering commitment – in May 2026 he was still out canvassing before the Scottish parliament election.

Outside political life, Alan was a keen birdwatcher, and became involved as a trustee in the preservation of Grantown’s woodland areas. He was also a lifelong – and often disappointed – supporter of Southampton FC.

His first marriage, to Wendy Comben, in 1956, ended in divorce. Anne died in 2024. He is survived by his two children from his first marriage, David and me.