Eddie Shah RIP

When the history of newspapers in Britain is written, Eddie Shah deserves to be remembered as the man who started a revolution in the industry by freeing the press from the print unions and introducing new computer-based technology to the nationals.

His actions were hugely controversial at the time, but after his death in late December 2025, even The Guardian could write of him in their obituary published yesterday,

 "Shah sparked the changes that broke the unions’ power and allowed the introduction of new printing methods, exploited first by Rupert Murdoch and subsequently by every other national newspaper group including the Guardian. From the grey and inky pages and grainy black-and-white photographs of the 1970s and early 80s, the newspapers burst into colour reproduction, more innovative designs and speedier and uninterrupted print and circulation runs."

They quoted Eddie Shah himself as saying

“It wasn’t a failure because our innovations benefited the rest of the industry, especially bringing in new technology. I made it happen and everyone remembers the guy who did it first.”

Their obituary is here: Eddy Shah obituary | Newspapers | The Guardian

A self-made man, he moved into publishing in the late seventies and launched a chain of local free newspapers in North West England. When the print unions approached him about unionising his plants, he told the Guardian in a 2002 interview,

 “The unions had become very political and union leaders were more interested in protecting their own powerbases rather than their members. They came to me and said they wanted to unionise. I said: ‘Fine, put it to a vote.’

“Six of my staff didn’t want to unionise, so the unions asked me to fire them. I said I wasn’t prepared to do that, so they told me they would close me down. It’s pretty scary. They decided to turn their strike into a cause celebre, which I think was a mistake, but by then it had built up a head of steam nationally and took on a life of its own.”

The unions and particularly the then powerful National Graphical Association employed tactics which even their friends might describe as forceful and tabloid journalists working for titles with a less pro-union editorial slant described as "bully boy tactics" - and they had a point.

These included sending five coffins to the family home – two large ones for the parents, three small ones for their children – mass picketing of the company printworks and harassment of its non-union employees. Shah was particularly aggrieved that the intimidation occurred while his wife was undergoing radiotherapy treatment for cervical cancer. Wavering about whether to surrender, he told Jennifer, who replied: “If you give up, I’m leaving you.”

Police were called in to accompany the vans and ensure distribution of the newspapers. The siege went on for seven weeks before Shah was able to deploy the Thatcher government’s new labour legislation, which led to fines and injunctions against the union.

Andrew Neil quoted on X today from The Times' obituary of Eddie Shah:

“Mass picketing resulted in violent scenes at the Messenger Group’s plants. In late November 1983, 4,000 picketers converged on the plant, buildings were set on fire and Shah was trapped inside fearing for his life. 

‘Admiring Shah’s courage in standing up to the unions, Andrew Neil, the recently installed editor of The Sunday Times, called the home secretary late at night to warn of the dire consequences of allowing the mob to “incinerate Shah”. 

‘When he wrote a leader in support of Shah in the next edition of The Sunday Times, the paper’s printers refused to print it. Neil would not back down and the presses were restarted.”

Shah went on to found two new National newspapers, "Today" and "The Post." Neither was a huge success but aspects of Today's business model and particularly the more flexible use of new technology were eventually adopted throughout the industry. Shah's quote in the Guardian reproduced above was not exaggerating his legacy.

His wife Jennifer having died in 2023. Shah is survived by two sons, Martyn and Alex, and a daughter, Tamsyn.

Rest in Peace.