Mark Christopher Field (born 6 October 1964) is a British politician who served as the
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Cities of London and Westminster
Cities of London and Westminster (also known as City of London and Westminster South from 1974 to 1997) is a constituency returning a single Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament. It is a borough ...
from
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
to 2019.
A member of the
Conservative Party, he served as a
Minister of State at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
from 2017 to 2019. A prominent supporter of the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union during the
Brexit referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
and of
Jeremy Hunt in the
2019 Conservative Party leadership election
The 2019 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered when Theresa May announced on 24 May 2019 that she would resign as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June and as prime minister of the United Kingdom once a successor had been el ...
, he left his post as a Foreign Office Minister when
Boris Johnson's premiership began. He stood down from the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
at the
2019 United Kingdom general election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...
.
Early life and education
Field was born on 6 October 1964 at the British Military Hospital in
Hanover, Germany. His father Peter (died 1991) was a major in the
British Army and his mother Ulrike (''née'' Peipe, died 2010) was of
German origin. Field was educated at the
state-funded grammar school,
Reading School and
St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he graduated with a
B.A. degree
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate education, undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally complet ...
in
Jurisprudence in 1987.
He was secretary and national political officer of the
Oxford University Conservative Association from 1985 to 1986,
JCR president of St Edmund Hall in 1986, and he was also news editor of student newspaper ''
Cherwell'' while it was under the editorships of
Christina Lamb
Christina Lamb OBE (born 15 May 1965) is a British journalist and author. She is the chief foreign correspondent of ''The Sunday Times''.
Lamb has won sixteen major awards including four British Press Awards and the European Prix Bayeux-Calva ...
and
Anne McElvoy
Anne McElvoy (born 25 June 1965) is a British journalist, contributing to '' The Economist'', London '' Evening Standard'', and the BBC.
Early life
McElvoy attended St Bede's RC Comprehensive School in Lanchester, County Durham, and read Ge ...
. During his student days, Field set up a publishing firm after spotting a gap in the market for
careers handbooks in the legal profession. He completed his education at
The College of Law at
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
, qualifying as a solicitor in 1990.
Private career
Whilst an undergraduate at
Oxford University, Field became a personal assistant to the Conservative MP for
Oxford West and Abingdon,
John (''now'' Lord) Patten, before training as a solicitor and practising as a
corporate lawyer with
Freshfields between 1990 and 1992. He then became a director of his own lawyer
employment agency, Kellyfield Consulting from 1994 until 2001; the company employed a dozen staff and turned over almost £2 million ''
pa''. After being elected to
Parliament he sold his share of that business to a
consortium
A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
headed by his ex-business partner.
Field served as vice-chairman of the
Islington North Conservative Association between 1989 and 1991 and unsuccessfully stood as one of the Conservative Party candidates in the Quadrant ward in the Islington Council election in 1990. He was elected as a Conservative councillor for Abingdon ward on
Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council in 1994, standing down in 2002 after entering the
House of Commons.
He unsuccessfully contested the Conservative held seat of
Enfield North
Enfield North is a peripheral Greater London List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency created in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, U ...
at the
1997 general election following the retirement of the sitting MP
Tim Eggar. 1997 was the year of Labour's parliamentary landslide and he was defeated at that election by
Labour's Joan Ryan Joan Ryan may refer to:
* Joan Ryan (actress), American actress and singer
* Joan Ryan (politician)
Joan Marie Ryan (born 8 September 1955) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield North from 1997 to 2010 and ...
by 6,822 votes.
After leaving Parliament following the 2019 general election, Field was appointed as non-executive chairman of CIB Limited, a subsidiary of the
Isle of Man-based investment bank Capital International Group in January 2020.
Parliamentary career
In December 1999 Field was selected to contest the safe Conservative seat of the
Cities of London and Westminster
Cities of London and Westminster (also known as City of London and Westminster South from 1974 to 1997) is a constituency returning a single Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament. It is a borough ...
following the retirement of former
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Brooke Peter Brooke may refer to:
*Peter Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville (1934–2023), British politician
* Peter Brooke (17th-century MP) (1602–1685), English politician
See also
*Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 � ...
at the
2001 general election. Field won the seat with a majority of 4,499 and was returned to Parliament with an increased majority three times since (
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
– 8,095;
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
– 11,076;
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
– 9,671). He was re-elected with a reduced majority at the
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
general election. Field made his
maiden speech in the House of Commons on 27 June 2001, when he declared his great political hero to be former
Prime Minister Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...
.
He was described by ''
The Guardian'' as one of the most "hardline right-wingers" up for election in 2001 after comments he made in 1991 about charities fighting the
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
epidemic were reported. Field criticised AIDS campaigns as a waste of taxpayers' money and wanted mandatory tests for AIDS: "Many charitable trusts set up to help counter Aids in the mid-1980s became little more than a
gay rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, , 3 ...
front", he wrote in ''
Crossbow'' in 1991.
As a parliamentarian Field, however, proved a strong supporter of equal rights. Within months of his election, in October 2001, he was one of four Tory MPs supporting a 10-minute rule bill on civil partnerships, a course he continued to support until it was on the statute books. He was also one of the Conservative MPs to vote in favour of gay marriage when this became law in May 2013. He was appointed an
Opposition Whip by
Iain Duncan Smith in 2003,
becoming the
Shadow Minister for London later that year. Between May and December 2005, he was Shadow Financial Secretary to HM
Treasury. For 11 months, from late 2005 to late 2006, he was the Conservative Party's spokesman on Culture, Media and Sport under the new leadership of
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 ...
in 2005. During his tenure he guided Opposition policy on the
National Lottery Act 2006
The National Lottery Act 2006 (c 23) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It implemented those decisions contained in the National Lottery Licensing and Regulation and National Lottery Funding Decision Documents published on 3 July ...
and promoted policy safeguarding
lottery fund
A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...
s for its four original causes of
the Arts, heritage,
charities
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a cha ...
and
sport. He also led opposition to Britain's
public library service.
In September 2010, Field was appointed by the Prime Minister to the
Intelligence and Security Committee, chaired by former Foreign Secretary,
Sir Malcolm Rifkind. He became the youngest MP on this committee, which reports directly to
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 wi ...
and oversees the
UK's intelligence and security services.
He takes a special interest in
economic affairs,
financial services
Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
,
foreign trade and
international development
International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic or human development on an international scale. It is the basis for international classifications ...
and is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Venture Capital & Private Equity as well as vice-chairman of the
Groups on
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
Bangladesh. He previously served as chairman of the APPGs for
Azerbaijan and
Business Services. He has served on the Standing Committees of several pieces of legislation, including the
Business Rates Supplements Act and the
Finance Acts in 2008 and 2009.
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 " ...
, Field introduced several high-profile debates on issues of local and national importance such as
homelessness
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
,
Northern Ireland,
Government debt,
Heathrow airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
,
policing in London,
social housing,
home education and
population estimates
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given Statistical population, population. This term is used mostly in connection with Population and housing censuses by country, n ...
. He has run local campaigns on business rates,
St Bartholomew's Hospital, assisting the
creative industries, the control of
rickshaws in the
West End
West End most commonly refers to:
* West End of London, an area of central London, England
* West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England
West End may also refer to:
Pl ...
, social housing rent rises, the independence of the
City of London Police
The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temples. The force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region, ou ...
(including its
fraud detection expertise) and, in July 2011, successfully argued in Parliament for the
Department of Culture, Media and Sport's continuing control of the
Royal Parks.
Field expressed criticism of the previous system governing
MPs' second home allowances: ''
The Daily Telegraph''s investigation of MPs' expenses found Field to be among the lower-end claimants.
He has been a supporter of looser rules on MPs' outside earnings and was quoted in 2001 as saying: "If you're earning several hundred thousand a year in the City, are you going to give it up for £47,000 a year in the Commons?"
In 2012, it was reported that the
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) had plans to reform MPs' pay, which could lead to them facing salary cuts for taking on second jobs. Field, who had earned £90,000 in the previous year through advisory work, called the proposals "totally unacceptable", especially for MPs with London costs.
In October 2011, Field voiced opposition to
Occupy London protestors camped in his
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
. He expressed concern that their "tent city" was turning into a "semi-permanent encampment" which was disrupting
St Paul's, a "key iconic tourist site" and
place of worship
A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...
. He suggested that
police should clear the camp at night and later said: "While no one expects anti-capitalism to be a 24-hour activity, I would have hoped the protesters would show a little more respect for the sanctity of St Paul's." On 28 February 2012, after 137 days of occupation, Field's initial recommendation became reality following a
Court order
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...
when the site was cleared by the
City of London Police
The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temples. The force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region, ou ...
in just 137 minutes.
In March 2014, he launched Conservatives for Managed Migration in order to spark a "calm and rational debate about
migration both within and beyond the Conservative Party" before the
2015 General Election. Field asserted that the
Coalition Government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
's pledge to get "annual net migration down to the tens of thousands" was undeliverable, risked potential harm to the economy and could ultimately be electorally damaging to the Conservative Party. In March 2015, Field was sworn into the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...
, thereafter being accorded 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 ...
of "
The Right Honourable".
In July 2015, Field was appointed vice chairman (International) of the Conservative Party under the leadership of David Cameron and was reappointed to the role by Theresa May. The role involves chairing the Party's International and Outreach Office which builds relationships with international sister parties on the centre-right, works with the
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body set up to support democratic institutions overseas. It was established on 26 February 1992 and registered as a company limited by guarantee in the ...
to enhance democratic institutions and political party structures in the developing world, acts as a link between the Party and its MEP group through work with the
Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE), and engages in political outreach work with diaspora communities in the UK.
In 2016, he met
Halbe Zijlstra, Leader of the Dutch
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the
House of Representatives, who had made a series of controversial comments about immigrants and political correctness. It was argued that Field's role as vice chairman of the Conservative Party also includes liaising with sister centre-right parties in Europe.
Minister for Asia and Pacific
On 13 June 2017, he was appointed a
Minister of State at the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
. At the FCO his formal responsibilities included: Asia, Australasia/Pacific, Communications (public diplomacy and scholarship),
British Council, Economic Diplomacy (including international energy strategy; climate change;
OECD relationship; fintech/cyber and the illegal wildlife trade), FCO Services Overseas and the Prosperity Fund (as FCO representative on the Ministerial board). His work on climate change has included representing the UK government at December 2018's
COP24 UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland as well as the
San Francisco Climate Summit and
PIF in Nauru earlier that year. He promoted UK expertise across Asia in green finance, renewables, carbon capture utilisation and storage, and electric vehicle technology.
Assault allegation
On 20 June 2019,
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
accused Field of assault, after an activist who interrupted
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 His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
Philip Hammond's
Mansion House Speech was grabbed by the neck, pinned against a wall and then pushed out of the event by Field. Field said he reacted "instinctively" and referred himself to the Cabinet Office for an investigation. He apologised to the activist for "grabbing her" and said he was worried she might have been armed. As a result of the incident, he was suspended as a minister on 21 June, while investigations took place. The
City of London Police
The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temples. The force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region, ou ...
reviewed the events and declared that it would be taking no further action because Field was a member of parliament. When Boris Johnson became prime minister in July 2019, Field was dropped from his ministerial role at the Foreign Office as part of a cabinet reshuffle. The Whitehall investigation was closed, as he felt that it was a "matter for the previous PM concerning his conduct during his time as a minister under her appointment". In October 2019, he announced that he would stand down from Parliament at the next general election, citing disagreement with government policy over
Brexit.
A Cabinet Office investigation into the assault allegation, published in December 2019, concluded that he had breached the ministerial code but that he would not receive any sanction as Field was no longer in Parliament.
Writer and commentator
His first book, ''Between the Crashes'', brings together his articles on UK politics and global economics following the aftermath of the financial crisis and was released by Biteback Publishing in April 2013. His second book, ''The Best of Times'' looks at the challenges and triumphs in British politics, economics and foreign affairs in the period 2013 to 2015 and was released by Biteback Publishing in May 2016. The books were co-authored with future MP
Julia Lopez who was his chief of staff at the time.
Field has been a regular panellist on
BBC Radio 4's ''
Westminster Hour
''The Westminster Hour'' is a British political news review produced by BBC News, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 each Sunday evening between 22:00 and 23:00 (starting with a national and international news bulletin). The programme began to be broadcas ...
'' and has appeared on various other BBC television programmes, including ''
Daily Politics'', ''Sunday Politics'' and ''
Newsnight'',
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's ''Late Debate'' (a panellist from 2009) and
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
as a newspaper reviewer. He has made contributions to the political blog,
ConservativeHome, particularly on economic matters. He has written for ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''City AM'', and wrote an article for ''
The Independent'' about the Christian minority in Syria.
Personal life
Field's first wife was former investment banker Michele Acton; they married in 1994. They divorced in 2006.
Field had an extra-marital affair between 2004 and 2005 with
Liz Truss, who was also married; the Conservative Party had appointed him as her political mentor at the time. In 2007, Field married celebrity agent Victoria Elphicke. They have two children.
References
External links
*
''Debrett's People of Today''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Mark
1964 births
Living people
English people of German descent
People educated at Reading School
Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford
Councillors in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
Politics of the City of Westminster
Politics of the City of London
British writers
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom