Frank Field, Rt. Hon Lord Field of Birkenhead, CH (1942 – 2024)

Frank Field, who has died from cancer, graduated from the University of Hull with a BSc in Economics in 1963. His interest in politics was ignited when he saw the then leader of the Labour Party, Hugh Gaitskell, speaking at the University, and was impressed. “It was the first time I experienced a leader who led from the very front, rather than waiting for something to happen later on,” he recalled. Another memory of Hull was when he dined on one occasion next to Philip Larkin, but was put off by the moroseness of his poems, and by his conviction that there was nothing after death, which jarred with Frank’s Anglican beliefs.

Frank was Director of the Child Poverty Action Group between 1969 and 1979, and in that year he was elected the Labour MP for Birkenhead. In his final year in the Commons he sat as an independent MP having resigned the Labour whip over various conflicts with the party locally and nationally and failed in his bid for re-election in 2019. He was long regarded as a maverick in the Labour Party for his independence of outlook and thought.

Frank dedicated his forty years at Westminster to tackling social issues including child poverty, low pay and modern slavery and his willingness to work with MPs across party divides to achieve his aims won him respect from his political opponents for his dedication and integrity. He served briefly as a minister for welfare reform under Tony Blair; but his approach was too radical for the new Labour Government. He went on to lead the independent review on poverty and life chances. He also chaired the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee (and its predecessor committee on social services and social security) as well as the joint committee on the draft Modern Slavery Bill, having been Treasurer of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery.

He was a devout Christian who did not own a television, preferring instead dense books of ecclesiastical history. He served as a trustee of several church-related charities, and others including Prostate Research Campaign UK, and was Vice Chair of the Human Trafficking Foundation.

Frank was made a cross-bench peer in 2020, where he became Lord Field of Birkenhead, and two years later was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.

by Peter Wallace 24/04/2024