Richard Gott, former Guardian journalist and historian, dies aged 87

"Gott's career at the Guardian began in 1964 and included spells as foreign correspondent, leader writer, features editor and literary editor. He is remembered as one of the most informed of all commentators on Latin American affairs a dashing, charismatic figure of the left who met Che Guevara in 1963 and was in Bolivia on the day the Cuban revolutionary was executed by US-backed forces in 1967. Gott was the only journalist able to identify the body on display."

"Gott resigned from the Guardian in 1994 after the Spectator magazine accused him of being a paid KGB informer. The claim was based on information provided by the Soviet defector, Oleg Gordievsky. Gott denied the accusations, seeing it as a bizarre revival of the McCarthyism of the 1950s. But Gott also, in his resignation letter, admitted he had accepted Soviet-paid trips to Vienna, Athens and Nicosia. He acknowledged taking red gold, even if it was only in the form of expenses."

"His friend and colleague John Gittings, a former foreign leader writer and China specialist at the Guardian, said many journalists during the cold war had been approached by Soviet, British and American agents. He took it quite lightly, he said. Too lightly. His sympathies were always with the revolutionaries rather than a regime, whether western or Soviet. One of Gott's proudest achievements at the Guardian was setting up the Agenda page, a Monday page of opinion and comment."

Richard Gott spent decades at the Guardian from 1964, serving as foreign correspondent, leader writer, features editor and literary editor. He developed deep expertise on Latin America, met Che Guevara in 1963 and was in Bolivia when Guevara was executed in 1967, being the only journalist able to identify the body. Gott resigned from the Guardian in 1994 after the Spectator accused him of being a paid KGB informer based on Oleg Gordievsky's information. He denied being an informer but acknowledged accepting Soviet-paid trips and expenses. Colleagues noted Cold War approaches by multiple intelligence services. He established the Guardian’s Agenda page, inviting divergent voices.

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