Harry Harpham: Miner and MP who went into politics to fight for the people of Sheffield

Harry Harpham was a coal miner and working class boy who became a Labour MP dedicated to improving the lives of his Sheffield constituents. He had only been elected MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough at last May's General Election, succeeding the former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett, before dying of cancer at the age of 61.

A man who did not suffer fools gladly, Harpham felt it was his duty to fight for changes and improvements in living standards for working people because, he said, "working people have never been handed change. They've always had to fight for it." So he was not intimidated by David Cameron and the "public school brigade" when confronting the Conservatives in the House of Commons. He last spoke, a fortnight before his death, when he took Cameron to task over the loss of 100 jobs at Sheffield Forgemasters. "We have had lots of warm words and hand-wringing and some crocodile tears from yourself and ministers in this Chamber about the tsunami of job losses across the steel industry," he declared. "Can you tell me when you will actually do something?"

A few days later he lambasted the Department of Business for closing its office in Sheffield with the loss of 247 jobs. "George Osborne talks about a Northern powerhouse," he observed, "but actions speak louder than words."

Born in Mansfield in 1954, Robert Harry Harpham was destined to follow the family tradition of mining. As he once explained, "Lads from my community didn't stay on in school. We left as soon as we could, put on a hard hat and went down the pit."

Aged 15, with no qualifications, he left school on a Friday and began working at the pit on the Monday. Shortly afterwards, one of his colleagues gave him a copy of Robert Tressell's socialist novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. It would have profound effect on him. He soon became active in the National Union of Miners and joined the Labour Party, which he said was "a given for a man in my circumstances." He also became an anti-Apartheid campaigner and CND supporter.

When the miners went on strike in 1984 over pit closures, Harpham joined the fight and manned a picket line for a year at Clipstone colliery, while many in Nottinghamshire worked on in protest against Arthur Scargill's refusal to call a national ballot.

When the strike ended in March 1985, with mining communities in disarray, Harpham moved to Sheffield and got what he described as his "second chance". He enrolled as a mature student at Northern College, in Barnsley, then completed a degree course at Sheffield University, graduating in 1991.

He began working for Blunkett in 1993 and was elected to Sheffield City Council in 2000, becoming a passionate campaigner for the city's disadvantaged, living in one of the most deprived areas of the constituency he came to represent. He also worked as a night warehouseman and as a volunteer in an advice centre. "I live in the real world," he said. "I get it."

He led the charge to make the city council a living-wage employer, declaring that "a fair day's work should always mean a fair day's pay." In 2001 he served as Blunkett's election agent while serving on a variety of council committees including Children's Services, Streetscene and Waste Management, and Homes and Neighbourhoods, and he became deputy leader in 2012. When Blunkett stepped down as MP, Harpham beat stiff competition to be selected for the safe seat and in the 2015 election won 57 per cent of the vote.

Taking his seat at Westminster, Harpham said, "I will be the last deep-coal miner ever elected to this place. There will be no more to follow me, because there will be no more pits." He was quickly recognised as a hard-working and popular MP. He was appointed a member of the environment, food and rural affairs select committee and was chosen as parliamentary private secretary to the shadow energy and climate change secretary, Lisa Nandy. He also supported Andy Burnham in his quest for the leadership of the Labour party.

His maiden speech pulled no punches, describing what life was like in his constituency, where more than double the national average claim the job seekers' allowance and the number of children living in poverty is twice the level of the rest of the UK.

After the Labour Party Conference in September he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Despite intensive treatment, which gave him a renewed respect for the NHS, Harpham maintained his heavy workload as he knew time was short. In the time he had left, he maintained his criticisms of the government in the Commons on humanitarian issues, housing, education and energy policy.

Harry Harpham, miner and politician: born Mansfield 21 February 1954; married firstly (one daughter, one son), secondly Gill Furniss (two stepdaughters, and one stepson); died 4 February 2016.