Rise and fall of Barnsley MP Eric Illsley

He provoked outrage by clinging on to his parliamentary seat for nearly a month after pleading guilty to dishonestly claiming more than £14,000 in taxpayers’ money.

Illsley, 55, was born in a council house in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and has always lived in the former mining town apart from his time studying law at Leeds University.

He worked as an official for the National Union of Mineworkers for nearly a decade, including the bitter 1984 miners’ strike.

Illsley was first elected Labour MP for Barnsley Central in June 1987 and held the seat until he stood down this week.

During the final years of the Major government he was given a series of roles as an opposition frontbencher, speaking on the NHS, local government and Northern Ireland.

But he returned to the backbenches after the 1997 Labour landslide, holding positions on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the Speaker’s Panel of Chairmen.

He was also treasurer of the Yorkshire group of Labour MPs, and chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for packaging manufacturing in recognition of Barnsley’s long connection with the glass industry.

Despite the question marks hanging over his parliamentary expenses claims, he remained popular in Barnsley and was re-elected last May with a majority of more than 11,000.

Weeks after the General Election he was suspended from the Labour Party when he was charged with false accounting over his expenses, but he remained sitting as an independent MP until this week.

Illsley, who has two grown-up daughters with his wife Dawn, is also a keen caravanner and a member of the Caravan Club Council.