The gathering outside St Michael’s Church

FROM providing homes for thousands of families to learning how to fly a jet plane in his sixties, from running a multimillion-pound business to writing 16 books on political economy – mourners who came to celebrate the life of former Camden councillor John Mills, who has died aged 86, heard how he made a lasting impact on so many.

Friends who came to pay their respects at St Michael’s Church, Highgate, on Friday included Sir Keir Starmer and staff from Mr Mills’ firm, JML.

His brother David revealed a childhood marked by time spent at boarding school: their father was the head of MI5’s Gibraltar office, and was also posted to Jamaica.

Visiting the family for holidays wasn’t easy. “It might have been one of the reasons he got 12 O-levels and seven A-levels,” David joked.

David said while his brother’s upbringing and education was middle class, John was classless – he could fit in anywhere.

Drafted into the Navy as a national serviceman, he spent three months training with a group of Durham miners.

“He had the Geordie accent perfected and could pass as one when required,” added David.

Former councillor John Mills

John was a keen pilot and clocked up more than 5,000 flying hours, quali­fying to fly jets aged 67. Despite his success running JML, John remained humble, added David.

“John was always able to laugh at himself and did not say an unkind word to anyone,” he added. David recalled how John had put together economic policies that sought to re-industrialise the UK and devalue Sterling to make products competitive.

“He was a leading Brexiteer in the disaster of 2016,” David joked.

“This unheeded prophet was deeply original, a genuinely popular local politician – kind, generous and a dab hand at the accordion.”

His son Pete recalled his father’s sense of adventure, describing  how before embarking on university degree, John decided to embark on research that entailed taking a trip from Cairo to Cape Town.

“It was a journey John did in three months, keeping to a specific schedule – a fact made more impressive by his insistence on hitchhiking the entire journey, wear­ing a suit and carrying a briefcase,” he said.

Pete also remembered a family holiday that took in 17 different countries over 14 days.

“We were flying over a vast jungle in Venezuela in a six-seater Cessna with John in the pilot’s seat,” he said.

“We were looking for a tiny mud airstrip in 30,000 square miles of national park.

As we flew over the endless canopy, we realised the map we were using was wrong. Dad used the sun to plot our course.

“I recall Dad getting us all up early one morning and putting us in a small airplane to fly to Angel Falls. He took us in under the ceiling of the water­falls. I will never forget the exceptional beauty nor the excitement.”

And his resilience was illustrated by an incident that made national headlines in 1995.

John was stabbed by a gang in Albert Street, Camden Town, and was rushed to the Royal Free.

“I could hear him on the phone as I approached the bed,” said Pete. “He was apologising for not being able to make a scheduled meeting due to what he called ‘unfore­seen circumstances.’”

His wife Barbara died in 2011 after 50 years of happy marriage.

John would later meet Majorie Wallace Skarbek. The couple married in 2021.

Labour activist Baroness Dianne Hayter spoke of his contribution to Camden.

As chair of housing in the 1970s, John had the vision to buy up street properties. “He had energy, resilience and incorrigible optimism,” she said.