HARRY HARPHAM was remembered as one of the “ultimate working-class heroes” yesterday as the Labour movement mourned the loss of the miners’ MP.

Jeremy Corbyn lead the tributes to the Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough MP, who died on Thursday night aged 61 following a five-month struggle with cancer.

Labour’s leader, who had promoted him to Labour’s shadow energy team, described him a “decent man” who had fought for working people “to the very end.”

“Harry was a proud socialist who had also been a proud miner,” he said.

“He was dedicated to justice for working people and despite the undoubted hardship that his support for the miners’ strike would have caused him, as it did many thousands of miners, Harry recently told me he would have done it all again.”

Mr Harpham, who grew up in Mansfield, was one of the few workers in Nottinghamshire who rallied behind the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during the 1984-85 miners’ strike and suffered the consequences.

In a moving personal tribute, Labour MP Richard Burgon recalled how “Harry was treated like a scab by scabs.”

But he added: “History proved him correct and proved them wrong. He was one of the eternal heroes, though he didn’t view himself as anything special.

“He was worth a thousand of the ‘big names’ that change nothing apart from their title and their bank balance.”

Mr Harpham was given what he called a “second chance” in life, when he moved to Sheffield after the dispute.

After serving as a Labour councillor in the city for a decade, including as deputy leader, he was the natural choice to replace former home secretary David Blunkett when he retired from Parliament last May.

He was diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer the Friday after attending his first Labour conference as an MP.

But even as he was undergoing chemotherapy in December, Mr Harpham travelled to London to vote against the bombing of Syria.

And just over two weeks ago Mr Harpham made a fitting final contribution in the Commons by taking PM David Cameron to task for his “hand-wringing and crocodile tears” in response to the steel crisis.

He leaves behind his wife Gill and children Annie, Kieron, Dan, Emily and Victoria.

John Bercow - Commons speaker Let it be recorded that he first fought bravely his illness and then bore it with stoicism and fortitude, continuing to battle on behalf of his constituents to the very end.

John McDonnell - Shadow chancellor Really sad news that Harry Harpham has passed away. An excellent socialist MP. I send my deepest condolences to his family and friends.

John Mann - Labour MP Harry Harpham MP a big loss. Brilliant comrade, always cheerful. A coalminer is the finest traditions of this country. Very many will mourn.