Joseph William Ashton OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 9 October 1933), usually known as Joe Ashton, is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician who was known for his defence of the rights of Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) against the demands of the left-wing of the party to subject them to mandatory reselection.

Early career

Ashton was born and brought up in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Bassetlaw

Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)

Bassetlaw is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 in a by-election in 1968

Bassetlaw by-election, 1968

The Bassetlaw by-election, 1968 was a parliamentary by-election for the constituency of Bassetlaw held on 31 October 1968. It was caused by the death of the former Labour Member of Parliament, Fred Bellenger....

, when he did well to hold the constituency at a time when the Harold Wilson government was highly unpopular and the previous MP (Fred Bellenger) had held a substantial personal vote.

1970s

In 1974, when corruption allegations about MPs were widely circulating, Ashton gave an interview to the Labour Party newspaper Labour Weekly. Seeking to defend MPs in general, Ashton insisted that the number who were guilty of corruption "could be counted on the fingers of one hand". This statement backfired, as newspapers demanded that he name the guilty five MPs.

In the late 1970s Ashton served as a junior minister in the government of James Callaghan

James Callaghan

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...

. After the Labour Party went into opposition he wrote a column for the Daily Star and made regular TV appearances in connection with his football club, Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...

, of which he was a director.

Conference speech

Ashton saw himself as the 'shop steward' for the Parliamentary Labour Party. When left-wing Labour Party activists demanded that sitting MPs submit themselves to their local parties for approval in each Parliament, he made a strong speech at the Labour Party conference in which he said he was pleading to save the jobs of the MPs. He referred to the large number of Labour MPs who had died of stress-related illnesses and linked that to pressure brought on them by their local parties.

Police raids on two massage parlours

Massage parlor

A massage parlor is a business where customers can receive a massage. Sometimes the term is synonymous with brothel as the term "massage" may be used as a euphemism for paid sexual favours....

 in Northampton resulted in the discovery of Joe Ashton, then Labour MP for Bassetlaw, in the Siam Sauna .
Two years before he stood down, he faced allegations about his presence with a 21-year-old Thai

Thai

When used as an adjective, Thai refers to anything that originates from Thailand. As a noun it may refer to:* Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand* Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand...

 woman at a 'Thai massage parlour' in Kingsley Park Terrace, Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

 during a police raid in November 1998. Following his retirement, he was succeeded by John Mann

John Mann (politician)

John Mann is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw since 2001, after the retirement of previous MP Joe Ashton.John Mann serves on the Treasury Select Committee...

.

In 2007, Ashton was awarded an OBE.

External links

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8155000/8155481.stm Interview BBC Radio Four, 17 July 2009.