Joseph William Ashton (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 A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

, 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 Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

; he attended High Storrs Grammar School and Rotherham Technical College. He was an engineer, and entered electoral politics when he was elected to Sheffield City Council in 1962.

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 James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

was unpopular. The close result saw it become a

marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. T ...

, 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 Canvassing, also known as door knocking or phone banking, is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaigns. Canvassing can be done for many reasons: political campaigning, grassroot ...

, 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. 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). Ashton was associated with the party's left early in his career, but gradually moved away over time. In 1977, Ashton published ''Grass Roots'', a novel about a tough steelworker who becomes a rebellious Labour MP. During his time in parliament, he regularly contributed to newspapers as a columnist.

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 Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

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." A director of

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

football club since 1990, he resigned as a director shortly after his presence at the parlour was established. Following his retirement at the 2001 general election, he was succeeded by John Mann. In 2007, Ashton was appointed an OBE. Ashton was interviewed in 2012 as part of

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

's oral history project. His memoir, ''Red Rose Blues'', was published in 2000. He published two volumes of memoirs in 2010 and 2014.

Personal life and death

In 1957, Ashton married Maggie Lee; they were married until her death in 2015, and had one daughter. Ashton died from dementia at a care home in Sheffield on 30 March 2020, at the age of 86.

References

External links

*
Interview BBC Radio Four, 17 July 2009

Joe Ashton interview at History of Parliament Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, Joe 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 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001