Jack Ashley RIP

The former MP Jack Ashley has died at the age of 89.

Younger readers probably won't know of him, but Ashley was a tireless crusader. For more than 40 years, first as an MP and then a peer he fought for the rights of the disabled, underprivileged and the disadvantaged.

His efforts on behalf of the least fortunate in society won him the admiration and support of politicians from all parts of the political spectrum.

He entered the House of Commons in 1966, and soon began to make his mark as an irrepressible defender of the afflicted. But soon after being elected MP for Stoke-on-Trent, he underwent a routine operation to correct a perforated eardrum and suffered a profound loss of hearing, "rather like being struck by lightning".

He prepared to resign his seat, but was persuaded instead to take a crash-course in lip-reading. Several weeks later he was back in the House, said to be the only totally deaf member of parliament in the world. Improving hearing-aid technology meant he was increasingly able to participate in parliamentary debates, and champion his causes.

Ashley conducted high-profile campaigns on behalf of widows and battered wives, rape victims, disabled and mentally ill people. He helped pioneer live captioning on television for deaf people.

And, most challengingly, he sought to help the victims of thalidomide.

A dedicated member of Labour and self-professed "political animal", Jack Ashley nevertheless was always prepared to work with other parties for the sake of his causes.

Scandalised by the fact that the thalidomide immunisation scheme was government sponsored, and yet the victims were not originally paid any kind of compensation, Ashley resigned from his post at the Department of Health and Social Security in protest.

When he was made a peer in 1992 Ashley decried his own achievements, saying, "I was simply bringing about changes in the working environment and in the places where people lived. I think mine was a pragmatic approach."

Of his many campaigns and successes, he explained that he "just happened to be there".

But his wife Pauline said the secret of his success was his bloody mindedness. Once he had taken up a cause, he was the proverbial dog with a bone, and would never give it up. He was still campaigning until 2009.

He was a decent, caring and honourable man and the weasels and crooks who seem to occupy so many places on high nowadays should be made to read his obituary and hang their heads in shame (not that they've got any).

Jack Ashley 1922 - 2012 RIP