Sir Max Aitken, 2nd Baronet Sir Max Aitken, 2nd Baronet Sir John William Maxwell Aitken, 2nd Baronet, (15 February 1910 – 30 April 1985), briefly 2nd Baron Beaverbrook in 1964, was a British fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War, a Conservative politician, and press baron. He was the son of Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook. Aitken was born in Montreal on 15 February 1910 to Max Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook). He was educated at Westminster School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. A talented sportsman, he was a University blue at football and a scratch golfer. A keen flyer, he spent some time
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook to be mismanaging the war effort. Aitken's opinion of Asquith did not improve when he failed to get a post in the Cabinet reshuffle of May 1915. An attempt by Bonar Law to secure the KCMG for Aitken was also blocked by Asquith. Aitken was happy to play a small part, which he greatly exaggerated, as a go-between when Asquith was forced from office and replaced by David Lloyd George in December 1916. Lloyd George offered to appoint Aitken as President of the Board of Trade. At that time, an MP taking a cabinet post for the first time had