Fiona Elizabeth Ann Jones (née Hamilton; 27 February 1957 – 28 January 2007) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark in Labour's landslide victory in the 1997 general election.

Jones was accused of fraudulently failing to declare the full amount of her election costs, convicted of election fraud in March 1999, and had the Labour whip withdrawn. She was the first MP to be disqualified from membership of the House of Commons for that offence since it was introduced by the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883. However, the Court of Appeal overturned her conviction within weeks: the disqualification was revoked, and she resumed her place in the House of Commons. However, she lost her seat in the 2001 general election. She later lost a civil case brought against the police for malicious prosecution.

Early life

Jones was born in Liverpool and grew up in Fazakerley as an only child. Her father, Fred Hamilton, was a production manager for a pharmaceutical company, and was a friend of Labour MP Eric Heffer. Heffer gave her a copy of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists when she was young, which inspired her to become an active socialist.

She became a freelance journalist; her future husband, Christopher Jones, was also a journalist, who worked for the BBC. The couple moved to Lincolnshire. They were married in north Wales in 1982.

Political career

Jones was elected as a Labour member of West Lindsey District Council, gaining Gainsborough South West ward from the Liberal Democrats in 1990. She served a single term and did not seek re-election in 1994. She was unsuccessful as the Labour parliamentary candidate in the Conservative stronghold of Gainsborough and Horncastle in the 1992 general election, finishing in third place. Subsequently she failed to secure the Labour nomination either for the marginal seat of Lincoln or for the safe Labour seat of Liverpool Riverside.

In September 1995, she was selected to contest the Newark constituency.

She was elected as Member of Parliament for Newark in the 1997 general election, ousting Conservative MP Richard Alexander, who had held the seat since the 1979 general election. A Roman Catholic, Jones campaigned against abortion, and she appeared with Lord Longford at a Labour conference fringe meeting. Prominent members of the local Labour Party gave evidence against her, and much was made at the time of her rivals for the Labour Party candidacy. At the selection meeting of the Newark Branch Labour Party, the local candidate came in a poor fourth, and withdrew from the contest at that stage. The runner-up, Nick Palmer, went on to win the Labour Party candidacy for the Broxtowe constituency.

A divisional court of the Queen's Bench Division held that the effect of the quashing of the conviction was that the disqualification was revoked with no need for a by-election, and she resumed her seat on 29 April.

She contested her seat at the 2001 general election, but lost to the Conservative candidate Patrick Mercer. In the twelve months before the 2001 election, the local newspaper, the Newark Advertiser, restricted reporting of her routine activities after she unsuccessfully demanded that every report concerning her should be submitted for her approval before publication; the newspaper lifted the restriction during the campaign.

Later life

After studying law at the University of Lincoln, Jones brought a civil case against Nottinghamshire Police for malicious prosecution. Her husband said that she refused to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in case she was recognised.

References

  • The "Fiona Jones archive" in the Newark Advertiser.