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Joe Ashton | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw | |
In office 31 October 1968 – 14 May 2001 | |
Preceded by | Frederick Bellenger |
Succeeded by | John Mann |
Personal details | |
Born | Joseph William Ashton 9 October 1933 Sheffield, England |
Died | 30 March 2020 Sheffield, England | (aged 86)
Political party | Labour |
Spouse |
Maggie Lee
(m. 1957; died 2015) |
Children | 1 |
Joseph William Ashton OBE (9 October 1933 – 30 March 2020) was a British Labour Party politician who was the MP for Bassetlaw from 1968 to 2001. He took his seat in by-election, winning with a majority of just 1.72%; in his last election before retiring, he won it by a majority of 36.4%.
Early career
Ashton was born and brought up in Sheffield; he attended High Storrs Grammar School and Rotherham Technical College.[1] He was an engineer, and entered electoral politics when he was elected to Sheffield City Council in 1962.[2][3]
Parliament
Ashton was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw in a by-election in 1968, when he struggled to hold the seat (which had been Labour-held since 1929) at a time when the government of Harold Wilson was unpopular.[3] The close result saw it become a marginal seat, won by Ashton with a majority of just 740 (1.72%). The previous MP, Captain Frederick Bellenger was said to have built a personal vote through his Labour canvassing, and in the local newspapers. Having been an MP since 1935, Bellenger died mid-term in May 1968 at the age of 73. He had just been awarded the Freedom of Worksop (a town in the constituency) two days before his death.[4]
Pit closures were an important issue in a seat with a large mining sector vote. Ashton argued that the Labour government's approach, which included redundancy payments to miners over the age of 55, was better than the terms of the Conservatives when they were in power (1951–1964).[5] Ashton was associated with the party's left early in his career, but gradually moved away over time.[3]
In 1977, Ashton published Grass Roots, a novel about a tough steelworker who becomes a rebellious Labour MP.[6] During his time in parliament, he regularly contributed to newspapers as a columnist.[3]
Later life
In March 1999, Northamptonshire's Chief Constable noted that Ashton had given misleading information to officers when in the same premises of the arrests of the perpetrators of immigration and sexual offences at a Northampton Thai massage parlour. This occurred during a police raid in November 1998. He was interviewed voluntarily and not accused of committing any offence. Ashton threatened to raise a data protection complaint. The police robustly denied that it had leaked Ashton's name; their statement said, "there were a great many other people with knowledge of this case - defendants, witnesses, legal representatives, other organisations and other individuals."[7] A director of Sheffield Wednesday football club since 1990, he resigned as a director shortly after his presence at the parlour was established.[8]
Following his retirement at the 2001 general election, he was succeeded by John Mann. In 2007, Ashton was appointed an OBE.[9]
Ashton was interviewed in 2012 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.[1][10] His memoir, Red Rose Blues, was published in 2000.[11] He published two volumes of memoirs in 2010 and 2014.[3]
Personal life and death
In 1957, Ashton married Maggie Lee; they were married until her death in 2015, and had one daughter.[3][12]
Ashton died from dementia at a care home in Sheffield on 30 March 2020, at the age of 86.[3][13]
References
- ^ a b "Oral history: ASHTON, Joe (b.1933)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
- ^ Ashton, Lucy (30 March 2020). "Former Sheffield councillor and long-serving Bassetlaw MP dies". TheStar.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g Langdon, Julia (2024). "Ashton, Joseph William [Joe] (1933–2020), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000381754. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Obituary: Mr Frederick Bellenger Labour MP and former Secretary of State for War Mr Frederick Bellenger Labour MP and former Secretary of State for War". The Times. 13 May 1968. p. 12.
- ^ Chartres, John (23 October 1968). "Miners key to Bassetlaw". The Times.
- ^ Grass Roots (Quartet Books)
- ^ Waugh, Paul (17 March 1999). "Chief constable: MP was in sauna". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
- ^ "Massage parlour MP 'not resigning'". BBC News. 28 March 1999. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
- ^ "Who's Who". ukwhoswho.com.
- ^ "Joe Ashton interviewed by Henry Irving". British Library Sound Archive. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
- ^ Hoggart, Simon (28 October 2000). "Doctor, I think I'm a pair of curtains". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
- ^ "Former Labour MP for Bassetlaw Joe Ashton dies". BBC News. 30 March 2020.
- ^ "Former Sheffield councillor and long-serving Bassetlaw MP dies". worksopguardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
External links
- 1933 births
- 2020 deaths
- 20th-century British male writers
- 20th-century British non-fiction writers
- 20th-century British novelists
- British columnists
- British male novelists
- Deaths from dementia in England
- English engineers
- Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People educated at High Storrs Grammar School for Boys
- Politicians from Sheffield
- Royal Air Force airmen
- Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section-sponsored MPs
- UK MPs 1966–1970
- UK MPs 1970–1974
- UK MPs 1974
- UK MPs 1974–1979
- UK MPs 1979–1983
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- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 1997–2001