Originally a communist, he continued to hold decidedly left-wing views after he joined the Labour Party, and was Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hillsborough for 18 years, from February 1974 to 1992.
His father, who was born in County Tipperary,[1] was a foreman at a steel works (and a former soldier in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers[1]).
He had joined the Communist Party of Great Britain following his demobilisation in 1945, but left after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when he realised that Soviet claims of democracy were a sham.
He held off strong Liberal Party challenges to his position in the 1983 and 1987 general elections, surviving by 1,546 votes (2.8%) on the former occasion.
He was the far-left candidate for Chief Whip of the Parliamentary Labour party in 1983, but was beaten convincingly by Michael Cocks.