Frank Field (UK politician)
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Frank Ernest Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead, (born 16 July 1942) is a British politician who was the
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liv ...
for 40 years, from 1979 to 2019, serving as a Labour MP until August 2018 and thereafter as an
Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
. In 2019, he formed the Birkenhead Social Justice Party and stood unsuccessfully as its sole candidate in the 2019 election. After leaving the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
he was awarded a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
age in 2020 and sits in the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
as a
crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
. From 1997 to 1998, Field served as the Minister of Welfare Reform in
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
's
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
. Field resigned following differences with the Prime Minister; as a
backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the ...
he soon became one of the Labour government's most vocal critics. Field was elected Chair of the
Work and Pensions Select Committee The Work and Pensions Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Work and Pensi ...
in June 2015. Following the 2017 general election he was re-elected unopposed. In August 2018, Field resigned the Labour
whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally ...
citing antisemitism in the party, as well as a "culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation" in parts of the party, including in his own constituency. Field lost a confidence vote in his constituency party a month before his resignation, after siding with the government in
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
votes. His resignation of the whip also led to his departure from the wider membership of the Labour Party, according to the Labour National Executive Committee, although Field disputes this.


Early life

Field was born in
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
, on 16 July 1942, the second of three sons. His father was a labourer at the Morgan Crucible Company's factory in
Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...
, and his mother a primary school welfare worker at Belmont Primary School in
Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and F ...
. His parents were
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
"who believed in character and pulling oneself up by one's own bootstraps". Field was educated at St Clement Danes Grammar School, then in
Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...
, before studying economics at the
University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...
. In his youth he was a member of the Conservative Party, but left in 1960 because of his opposition to
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
and joined the Labour Party. In 1964, he became a further education teacher in
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
and Hammersmith. Field served as a Labour councillor for
Turnham Green Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Little S ...
on
Hounslow London Borough Council Hounslow London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hounslow in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a number ...
from
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
until
1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...
, when he lost his seat. He was Director of the
Child Poverty Action Group Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is a UK charity that works to alleviate poverty and social exclusion. History The Group first met on 5 March 1965, at a meeting organised by Harriett C. Wilson. It followed the publication of Brian Abel-Smith ...
from 1969 to 1979, employing Virginia Bottomley on longterm research into income and expenditure for families below the poverty line, and the Low Pay Unit from 1974 to 1980.


Political career

Field unsuccessfully contested the constituency of South Buckinghamshire at the 1966 general election, where he was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Ronald Bell. He was selected to contest the safe Labour seat of Birkenhead at the 1979 general election on the retirement of the sitting MP Edmund Dell. Field held the seat with a majority of 5,909 and remained the constituency's MP until November 2019. In
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
, Field was made a member of the Opposition frontbench by the Labour leader
Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
as a spokesman on education in 1980, but was dropped a year later. Following the appointment of
Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
as the Labour leader in 1983, Field was appointed as a spokesman on health and social security for a year. He was appointed the chairman of the social services
select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...
in 1987, becoming the chairman of the new social security select committee in 1990, a position he held until the 1997 election. Two nights before the Conservative Party leadership election in November 1990, he visited
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
at
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...
. He advised her that her time as Prime Minister was drawing to a close and that she should back
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...
to take over the role. His reason for doing so was that he felt that her Conservative colleagues would not tell her straight that she could not win a leadership contest. Following this meeting, he was smuggled out of Downing Street's back door. Two days later
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
supported
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...
for the post, and Major went on to become Prime Minister.


Minister for Welfare Reform

Following the 1997 election, with Labour now in power, Field joined the government led by
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
as its Minister for Welfare Reform, working in the
Department of Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...
(DSS). Blair has said Field's mission was to "think the unthinkable". Field thought that the state should only play a small direct role in the provision of welfare and he disliked means-testing and non-contributory entitlement to benefits, which he believed should only be received after claimants had joined Continental-style social insurance schemes or mutual organisations such as
friendly societies A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal organization or ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual org ...
. There were clashes with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Ch ...
,
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
, and the
Secretary of State for Social Security The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Department for Work and ...
,
Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...
– the Treasury was concerned about costs, while Brown himself was in favour of the poor being entitled to working-age benefits without having first paid
National Insurance National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their fami ...
contributions. According to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', Field resigned his ministerial position in July 1998 rather than accept a move away from the DSS as part of a wider reshuffle; the newspaper suggested at the time that Blair had been "disappointed" by Field's ideas for welfare reform.
Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...
also returned to the backbenches. In his autobiography, Blair wrote about Field: The following year, Downing Street briefed the press that "harsh and authoritarian" measures were in store for welfare recipients and plans were made to abolish the DSS. At the end of Blair's second term of office, the BBC reviewed his record on welfare reform up to that point: The welfare reform most closely associated with Blair was not introduced for a further three years: the replacement of
Incapacity Benefit Incapacity Benefit was a British social security benefit that was paid to people facing extra barriers to work because of their long-term illness or their disability. It replaced Invalidity Benefit in 1995. The government began to phase out Inc ...
(IB) by Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The think-tank
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
, on whose advisory board Field used to sit, said in its 2016 report on changes to out-of-work sickness benefits that ESA had "replicated many of the problems of IB" and had therefore "failed to achieve its objective".


Return to the backbenches

After leaving ministerial office, Field continued with his duties as an MP and joined the ecclesiastical and the public accounts select committees in the House of Commons. From the backbenches, he was a vocal critic of the government, voting against
Foundation Hospitals A foundation trust is a semi-autonomous organisational unit within the National Health Service in England. They have a degree of independence from the Department of Health and Social Care (and, until the abolition of SHAs in 2013, their local s ...
in November 2003. In May 2008, he was a significant critic of the abolition of the
10p tax rate The starting rate of income tax, known as the 10p rate (also referred to as 10p tax band), was a special rate of personal income taxation in the United Kingdom that existed from 1999 to 2008. Description The 10p rate was the lowest rate of inc ...
and this led to Field describing Prime Minister Gordon Brown as "unhappy inside his own body". He later apologised in parliament for the personal attack. In June 2008, Field joined calls for the establishment of a devolved parliament for England. On 8 June 2009, Field wrote in his blog that he believed that the Labour Party would not win the next election with
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
as leader. On 6 January 2010, Field was one of the few Labour MPs to back
Geoff Hoon Geoffrey William Hoon (born 6 December 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire from 1992 to 2010. He is a former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, Leader of ...
and Patricia Hewitt's calls for a secret ballot of the
Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...
on the leadership of
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
. The ballot could have led to a leadership contest. In May 2009, Field announced his candidature for Speaker of the House of Commons, but later withdrew his candidature, citing lack of support from within his own party.
John Bercow John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019. A member of the Conservative Party prior t ...
was elected as the new Speaker. In the 2010 general election Field retained his Birkenhead seat with an increased majority. In June 2010 he was appointed by
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
's coalition government to head an independent review into poverty, which proposed adopting a new measure centred around life-chance indicators and increasing funding for early years education. In an interview in September 2012, Field considered the government to have ignored his report, saying "nothing had been done about it" and that it was "very disappointing". In October 2013, along with
Laura Sandys Laura Jane Sandys (; born 5 June 1964) is a former chair of the European Movement UK, and a British Conservative Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Thanet between 2010 and 2015 when she stood down at th ...
, Field established the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hunger and Food Poverty, which he went on to chair. He also chaired a parliamentary inquiry into hunger commissioned by the APPG which reported in December 2014. Field became the chair of trustees of Feeding Britain, a charitable organisation set up in October 2015 to implement the recommendations made by the APPG. Following the 2015 general election, it was announced in June 2015 that he had been elected to the chairmanship of the Work and Pensions
Select Committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...
. He was re-elected unopposed to the role following the 2017 general election. Field nominated
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialis ...
as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015, stating that while he did not think Corbyn could win a general election, he hoped his candidature would force the party to confront its 'deficit denial'. In June 2016, Field wrote in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' that he supported
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
, emphasising the need to control immigration due to it creating excessive demands on public services, roads and housing stock. He argued the EU model suited big businesses who wanted cheap labour, and supported agricultural interests creating high prices for food, rather than families. The ''
Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...
'' has reported that Field is "a long-time Brexiteer". In December 2017, during a debate on
Universal Credit Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker' ...
, Field described the impact that Universal Credit changes had had on his constituents. His observations moved
Work and Pensions Select Committee The Work and Pensions Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Work and Pensi ...
member
Heidi Allen Heidi Suzanne Allen (' Bancroft; born 18 January 1975) is a British former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire from 2015 to 2019. Initially elected as a Conservative, she resigned from the party in Fe ...
to tears. Field spoke of how he had talked a man out of
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
and how one claimant felt "lucky" his family was invited to eat food leftovers from a
funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect ...
.


Resignation of the Labour whip

On 17 July 2018, a vote was held on a rebel amendment to a trade bill, which aimed to force the British government to join a customs union with the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Field, Kate Hoey, John Mann, and
Graham Stringer Graham Eric Stringer (born 17 February 1950) is a British Labour Party politician serving as MP for Blackley and Broughton since 1997. Before entering Parliament, he served as leader of Manchester City Council from 1984 to 1996, and chair of ...
were the only Labour MPs to oppose the amendment, which was lost by 307 votes to 301. Field lost a confidence vote in his constituency, after siding with the government in these Brexit votes. On 30 August 2018, Field resigned the Labour whip because, he said, Labour was "increasingly seen as a racist party" and due to the "culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation" in parts of the party, including his own constituency. Some commentators suggested that he had "jumped before he was pushed." He described himself as an "independent Labour MP". Field said that he would not trigger a by-election and would remain an MP. However, on 2 August 2019 he announced that he was forming a new party, the Birkenhead Social Justice Party. Field voted for Prime Minister
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
's Brexit deal in the "
meaningful vote Parliamentary votes on Brexit, sometimes referred to as "meaningful votes", were the parliamentary votes under the terms of Section 13 of the United Kingdom's European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which requires the government of the United Ki ...
" on 15 January 2019, which May lost. Subsequently, Field voted for the Conservative party-supported Brady amendment calling on the Government to renegotiate the
Northern Ireland backstop The Irish backstop (formally the Northern Ireland Protocol) was a proposed protocol to a draft Brexit withdrawal agreement that never came into force. It was developed by the May government and the European Commission in December 2017 and fina ...
part of the deal, and abstained on the Labour party-supported Cooper-Boles amendment to prevent a no-deal Brexit.


Birkenhead Social Justice Party

In August 2019, Field stated that he would stand in the next general election as a candidate for a newly-formed Birkenhead Social Justice Party. The party stated that it would stand on a social justice, localist, and pro-Brexit platform. In the December 2019 general election, he was beaten by the Labour Party candidate
Mick Whitley Michael Whitley (born 17 November 1951) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birkenhead since 2019. He is a member of the Labour Party. Early life and career Whitley was born in St Catherine's Hospital, ...
who polled 24,990 votes, compared to Field's 7,285, a winning margin of 17,705 votes. The Party was de-registered with the Electoral Commission on 17 February 2020.


Awards and honours

He was sworn in as a member of
Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...
in 1997. This gave him the
honorific prefix An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...
"
The Right Honorable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...
" and, after
ennoblement Ennoblement is the conferring of nobility—the induction of an individual into the noble class. Currently only a few kingdoms still grant nobility to people; among them Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Vatican. Depending on time and reg ...
, the
post nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
"PC" for life. He was appointed as a deputy lieutenant for the
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...
in October 2011. At the age of 75 he was moved to the retired list. This gave him the
Post Nominal Letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
"DL" for Life. In March 2015, Field was awarded the
Grassroot Diplomat Grassroot Diplomat is a global non-profit, non-political, diplomatic consultancy established in 2013. The consultancy specialises in digital diplomacy and public diplomacy working with foreign governments and citizen diplomats to help build posi ...
initiative honour for the co-founding of environmental organisation Cool Earth, a charity that works alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction as a bottom-up solution to an ageing problem. He was awarded an honorary fellowship by
Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This lat ...
on 12 July 2016. In 2017, he was awarded the
Langton Award for Community Service The Lambeth Awards are awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In addition to the Lambeth degrees, there are a number of non-academic awards. Before 2016, these awards consisted of the Lambeth Cross, the Canterbury Cross, and the Cross of St Augu ...
by the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...
"for sustained and outstanding commitment to social welfare". Field was nominated for a life peerage in the
2019 Dissolution Honours The 2019 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 31 July 2020 following the 2019 United Kingdom general election the previous December, in which the Conservative Party won a large majority. This list was released concurrently with the 2020 Polit ...
. He was created Baron Field of Birkenhead, ''of
Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liv ...
in the County of
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...
'', on 11 September 2020. Field was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the
2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...
for political and public service. Field was awarded the
freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...
of the Borough of Wirral on 16 February 2022. He is also a Companion of the
Guild of St George The Guild of St George is a charitable Education Trust, based in England but with a worldwide membership, which tries to uphold the values and put into practice the ideas of its founder, John Ruskin (1819–1900). History Ruskin, a Victorian ...
.


Personal beliefs

Field has had a reputation for being an intellectual, a free-thinker and a maverick in the Parliamentary Labour Party. Inspired by his Christianity, he has taken a much more socially conservative stance on various issues particularly on the family, antisocial behaviour, immigration and welfare reform. He has also embraced calls for an English Parliament and called for a renegotiation of Britain's relationship with European Union, including changes to free movement of labour. He has voted for gay marriage and in favour of liberal legislation on gay rights since 1997. He is a member of the advisory board of
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
and of the generally conservative but also " broad church" magazine '' Standpoint''. In May 2008, he said that
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
"is certainly a hero" and that "I still see Mrs T from time to time – I always call her 'Mrs T', when I talk to her." In 1999, based on his belief that Britain should find a sustainable non-political way to fund retirement, Field helped set up the Pension Reform Group, which promotes the Universal Protected Pension as the best means to reform pensions. Although there have been attempts to get him to defect to the Conservatives, they have been without success. In 2008, Field was named as the 100th-most-influential right-winger in the United Kingdom by ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
''. Field supports the return of
national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...
to tackle growing unemployment and instil "a sense of order and patriotism" in Britain's young men and women. In May 2010, Field endorsed
Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliba ...
to become leader of the Labour Party to replace
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
. Field believes strongly in fighting
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
. He co-founded the charity
Cool Earth Cool Earth is a UK-based international NGO that protects endangered rainforest in order to combat global warming, protect ecosystems and to provide employment for local people. The organisation receives its income through business partnerships, ...
with
Johan Eliasch Johan Eliasch (born February 1962) is a Swedish-British businessman, investor, and environmentalist. He was the chief executive of Head, a sporting goods company, from 1995 to 2021, and is now its chairman. In 2006, he co-founded Cool Earth, a ...
. Cool Earth protects endangered rainforest and works with the local communities to combat climate change. Field was the instigator of the idea of a global Commonwealth network of protected forests, though he failed to raise political interest for a number of years; according to Field, when
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
was told about the idea, she supported it enthusiastically, and the initiative was launched as the
Queen's Commonwealth Canopy The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) is an initiative begun in 2015 as a network of forest conservation programmes throughout the 54 countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. By 2016, 16 countries had become involved, and by 2019 the number was 4 ...
in 2015. In 2010 he chaired the Liverpool City Region Poverty and Life Chances Commission to create a new strategy for the Government in order to abolish child poverty. Field believes in reducing the time-limit within which women can have an abortion, and in stripping abortion providers such as
Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classificati ...
of their counselling role and handing it to organisations not linked to abortion clinics. With the Conservative MP
Nadine Dorries Nadine Vanessa Dorries (''née'' Bargery, 21 May 1957) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A member of the Conservative Party, sh ...
, he has been vocal in two defeated attempts to legislate for such a reform in Parliament. He was a prominent
Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...
within the Labour Party, and declared on 20 February 2016 that he would campaign to leave the EU. In January 2019, the supporters page of the Labour Leave website listed only two MPs, Labour's Kate Hoey and Field.


Personal life

Field is an active member of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
, a former chairman of the
Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
and a member of the Church of England General Synod. Field's political and religious views are most clearly expressed in his book ''Neighbours From Hell'' where he discusses what might replace the "largely beneficial effect" of evangelical Christianity. Between 2005 and 2015, Field was chairman of the Cathedral Fabrics Commission for England – the national body that controls the care, conservation and repair or development of cathedrals. In 2007 he was appointed as chairman of the 2011 King James Bible Trust, which was established to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...
. Field has never married and has described himself, because of that, as incomplete. He is said by friends, however, to have "a full life outside politics".


Health

Field was admitted to hospital after collapsing during a meeting in March 2015. On 22 October 2021, Field announced that he was terminally ill and had spent time in a hospice. Baroness Meacher read out a statement from him in the House of Lords during a debate on the
Assisted Dying Bill Dignity in Dying (originally The Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society) is a United Kingdom nationwide campaigning organisation. It is funded by voluntary contributions from members of the public, and as of December 2010, it claimed to hav ...
.


Publications

* ''Twentieth Century State Education: Readings for General Studies'' by Frank Field and Patricia Haikin, 1971, Oxford University Press, * ''Black Britons: Readings for General Studies'' by Frank Field and Patricia Haikin, 1971, Oxford University Press, * ''One Nation: The Conservatives Record since 1970'' by Frank Field, 1972, Child Poverty Action Group, ISBN B0000E9CMI * ''Abuse and the Abused'' by Frank Field, 1972, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Low Pay'' by Frank Field, 1973, Arrow Books, * ''Incomes Policy for Families'' by Frank Field, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Unequal Britain'' by Frank Field, 1974, Arrow Books, * ''Housing and Poverty'' by Frank Field, 1974, Catholic Housing Aid Society, * ''Poor Families and Inflation'' by Michael Brown and Frank Field, 1974, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''The Stigma of Free School Meals: Welfare in Action'' by Frank Field, 1974, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Low Wages Councils'' by Frank Field and Steve Winyard, 1975, Spokesman Books, * ''Social Contract for Families: Memorandum to the Chancellor of the Exchequer'' by Frank Field and Peter Townsend, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Unemployment: The Facts'' by Frank Field, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Poverty: The Facts'' by Frank Field, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Back to the Thirties for the Poor?: A Report on the Living Standards of the Poor in 1975'' by Frank Field, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Education and the Urban Crisis'' Edited by Frank Field, 1976, Routledge, * ''To Him who Hath'' by Frank Field, 1976, Penguin Books Ltd, * ''The new Corporate Interest'' by Frank Field, 1976, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Conscript Army: Study of Britain's Unemployed'' by Frank Field, 1977, Routledge, * ''Are Low Wages Inevitable?'' by Frank Field, 1977, Spokesman Books, * ''Wasted Labour: Call for Action on Unemployment'' by Frank Field, 1978, Child Poverty Action Group, * ''Rising Tide of Poverty: A Challenge for Political Parties'' by Frank Field, 1978, Low Pay Unit, ISBN B0000EDRIP * ''The Wealth Report'' by Frank Field, 1979, Routledge, * ''Fair Shares for Families: Need for a Family Impact Statement'' by Frank Field, 1980, Study Commission on the Family, * ''Inequality in Britain: Freedom, Welfare and the State'' by Frank Field, 1981, Fontana, * ''Poverty and Politics'' by Frank Field, 1982, Heinemann Education, * ''The Wealth Report 2'' by Frank Field, 1983, Routledge, * ''Policies Against Low Pay'' by Frank Field, 1984, Policy Studies Institute * ''The Minimum Wage'' by Frank Field, 1984, Ashgate, * ''What Price a Child?: A Historical Review of the Relative Costs of Dependants'' by Frank Field, 1985, Policy Studies Institute, * ''Freedom and Wealth in a Socialist Future'' by Frank Field, 1987, Constable, * ''The Politics of Paradise: A Christian Approach to the Kingdom'' by Frank Field, 1987, Fount, * ''Losing Out: Emergence of Britain's Underclass'' by Frank Field, 1989, Blackwell Publishers, * ''An Agenda for Britain'' by Frank Field, 1993, Harper Collins, * ''Making Sense of Pensions'' by Matthew Owen and Frank Field, 1993, Fabian Society, * ''Private Pensions for All'' by Frank Field and Matthew Owen, 1993, Fabian Society, * ''Europe Isn't Working'' by Frank Field, 1994, Institute of Community Studies, * ''Beyond Punishment'' by Frank Field and Matthew Owen, 1994, Institute of Community Studies * ''National Pensions Savings Plan'' by Frank Field and Matthew Owen, 1994, Fabian Society, * ''Making Welfare Work: Reconstructing Welfare for the Millennium'' by Frank Field, 1995, Institute of Community Studies, * ''The Measurement of Poverty and Low Income at the Millennium'' by Frank Field, 1995, Manchester Statistical Society, * ''Who Gets What, How and for How Long?'' by Frank Field and Paul Gregg, Fabian Society, * ''How to Pay for the Future'' by Frank Field, 1996 * ''The Operation of the Child Support Agency'' by Frank Field, 1996, The Stationery Office Books, * ''Reflections of Welfare (Discussion Paper)'' by Frank Field, 1998, The Social Market Foundation, * ''Stakeholder Welfare'' by Frank Field, Alan Deacon, Pete Alcock, David G. Green, Melanie Phillips, 2000, Civitas * ''The State of Dependency: Welfare Under Labour'' by Frank Field, 2000, The Social Market Foundation, * ''Capitalism, Morality and Markets'' by Brian Griffiths, Robert A Siciro, Norman Berry and Frank Field, 2001, Institute of Economic Affairs * ''William Temple: A Calling to Prophecy'' by Stephen Spencer and foreword by Frank Field, 2001, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, * ''Debating Pensions: Self-Interest, Citizenship and the Common Good'' by Frank Field and Alan Deacon, 2002, Civitas * ''Welfare Titans'' by Frank Field, 2002, Civitas, * ''Neighbours from Hell: The Politics of Behaviour'' by Frank Field, 2003, Politico's Publishing, * ''Working Welfare: Contributory Benefits, the Moral Economy and the New Politics'' by Frank Field, 2013, Politeia,


References


External links


Frank Field MP
official site
ePolitix.com – Frank Field MP
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150520125406/http://www.grassrootdiplomat.org/whoswho/ Frank Field MP, Grassroot Diplomatbr>BBC News – Frank Field MP
profile 14 February 2005
Cool EarthBBC Radio 4 Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Frank 1942 births People from Edmonton, London Living people Alumni of the University of Hull Councillors in the London Borough of Hounslow Deputy Lieutenants of Merseyside English Anglicans English political writers Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at St. Clement Danes School UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Guild of St George Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Life peers created by Elizabeth II British Eurosceptics Crossbench life peers