Combative, colourful Labour MP

JOE Ashton was a straight-talking Labour MP whose words could sting his adversaries but whose support of his colleagues and their rights knew no bounds.

As the representative of Bassetlaw for 33 years from 1968 to 2001, he served as a junior minister in James Callaghan’s government during the late 1970s.

He was also a newspaper columnist, novelist and playwright and a director at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.

Born into poverty in Attercliffe, Sheffield, Ashton’s deprived upbringing shaped his empathy for the working man.

Having gained his 11-plus, he attended High Storrs Grammar School. Following National Service in the RAF, he became an engineer in Sheffield.

In 1962 he became a Sheffield councillor, entering Parliament when a by-election was called in Bassetlaw six years later.

It was a close-run fight and he

Joe Ashton MP and writer BORN OCTOBER 9, 1933 - DIED MARCH 30, 2020, AGED 86

scraped a win with just 740 votes as the mining vote was split during the unpopular second reign of HaroldWilson’s government.

His win two years later was more assured with a majority of 8,261.

In government, he spent a year as a whip and had a bluntness that could land him in trouble.

As a writer, he was an engaging and informative voice. He had a column in the Sheffield Star and after joining the Daily Star, was awarded columnist of the year by Granada TV’s What The Papers Say.

Grass Roots, his novel about a trouble-making Labour MP, was

published in 1977 and his memoir, Red Rose Blues, followed in 2000.

He retired from politics in 2001 and was awarded an OBE in 2007.

He married Margaret Lee in 1957 who predeceased him. He is survived by their daughter Lucy. She confirmed he had been living with dementia when he died.