When Stuart Weir, who has died aged 85, became editor of the New Statesman in 1987, he made democracy a key theme of his tenure. The Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher had just won its third general election, having used the absence of checks in an unwritten constitution to abolish metropolitan authorities, curtail trade union rights and undermine civil liberties.
The weekly magazine became a platform for debate but also a vehicle for launching Charter 88, a campaign movement initiated by Stuart. Between January and November 1988 he planned and oversaw the drafting of a 1,500-word document that called for Britain to become a constitutional democracy with “citizens not subjects”. It was supported by 350 distinguished figures and eventually nearly 50,000 more signatories.
