Former Labour minister Frank Field who was asked by Tony Blair to ‘think the unthinkable’ has died
Frank Field, the former Labour MP and minister, has died at the age of 81.
A statement from his family said: “He will be mourned by admirers across politics but above all he will be greatly missed by those lucky enough to have enjoyed his laughter and friendship.”
Lord Field of Birkenhead was asked to “think the unthinkable” to reform welfare by Sir Tony Blair in 1997, but he only lasted a year in the role before clashes with other ministers – including Gordon Brown – saw him return to the backbenches.
Having left the Commons in 2019, Lord Field was later diagnosed with terminal cancer and briefly admitted to hospice care in 2021.
His health had continued to decline, and he swore his oath to the King last year in the House of Lords from a wheelchair.
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum following his death.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the late MP was a “great parliamentarian, crusader for social justice and source of wise counsel”. while former home secretary Priti Patel praised his “unwavering moral compass, commitment to working cross-party and unshakable principles”.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, said Lord Field was “neither cowed by the establishment or whips – which made his campaigns against hunger and food poverty, for climate change and the Church, even more effective”.
“Suffice to say, he was one of a kind and he will be sorely missed.”
Early life and becoming an MP
Frank field in 1976, when he was a director of the Child Poverty Action Group
Lord Field was born on 16 July 1942.
He was first elected as the Labour MP for Birkenhead in Merseyside in 1979.
He grew up in London in a working class family, and was a supporter of the Conservative Party in his teenage years, but was thrown out after he opposed apartheid in South Africa.
Lord Field went on to join the Labour Party as a teenager.
After attending grammar school and Hull University, he returned to London and was a councillor in west London in the 1960s.
After losing his seat in 1968, he was director of the charity Child Poverty Action Group until 1979, when he entered parliament.
The Labour Party was in the political wilderness for his first years in parliament, and Margaret Thatcher maintained a firm grip on power. But oddly enough Lord Field still became a regular visitor to Downing Street.
Long before Sir Tony’s new dawn broke with his 1997 election win, the Labour MP was entering Number 10 as he and Mrs Thatcher struck up an unusual friendship.
Lord Field visited her in 1990 to tell her that she was finished and needed to stand down – and they stayed friends afterwards.
‘Think the unthinkable’
Lord Field (back row, fourth from left) with a cabinet committee in 1997
By the time New Labour swept to power, Lord Field was known for his campaigning on welfare and helping the poorest in society.
His Christian faith led him down the path of believing that humans need to be saved from base instincts – and the government should help them do this.
This included believing that too generous a benefits system would no doubt trap people who saw it as a simpler and more lucrative alternative to the labour market.
Ultimately, the rows with the then chancellor Mr Brown – and social security secretary Harriet Harman – saw Lord Field leave the government in 1998.
Return to the backbenches
Despite losing his role in government, Lord Field continued to intervene and voice his opinions on how he believed the welfare system should work.
By the tail end of Labour’s time in office he was dissatisfied with the leadership of Mr Brown, who had succeeded Sir Tony as PM in 2007.
Come 2015, he nominated Jeremy Corbyn to be the party’s leader as he believed there needed to be a plurality of voices heard. But he was not a natural ally of the Corbyn regime when it did take over.
Lord Field was a supporter of Brexit, as he believed freedom of movement was having a negative impact on the UK’s Labour market, among other reasons.
He voted against Labour on pieces of Brexit legislation, and lost a vote of confidence in his Birkenhead constituency party in 2018.
Just over a month later, he resigned the Labour whip and took a swipe at how the party dealt with antisemitism as he left.
He continued to support Brexit in the House of Commons, and in the 2019 election stood as an independent but lost to the Labour candidate.
Illness and death
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Baroness reads assisted dying statement for colleague
In 2021, Lord Field announced he was terminally ill and revealed he backed assisted dying.
He spent time in a hospice, and a speech in support of assisted dying was read out in the House of Lords on his behalf, having joined the upper chamber in 2020 as a crossbench peer.
Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced she has split from her husband, Peter Murrell.
Ms Sturgeon and Ms Murrell met via the SNP and first became a couple in 2003. They later married in July 2010 at Oran Mor in Glasgow.
Ms Sturgeon with Mr Murrell following their wedding service at Oran Mor in Glasgow in 2010. Pic PA
Mr Murrell giving Ms Sturgeon a kiss after she was voted in as first minister in 2014. Pic: PA
In a statement posted to Instagram stories, she wrote: “With a heavy heart I am confirming that Peter and I have decided to end our marriage.
“To all intents and purposes we have been separated for some time now and feel it is time to bring others up to speed with where we are.
“It goes without saying that we still care deeply for each other, and always will.
“We will be making no further comment.”
Ms Sturgeon announcing the split on Instagram
Ms Sturgeon unexpectedly announced she was stepping down as Scotland’s first minister and SNP leader in February 2023 after succeeding Alex Salmond following the independence referendum in 2014.
Mr Murrell, who had been SNP chief executive since 2001, resigned from his post the following month after taking responsibility for misleading the media over party membership numbers amid the leadership race, which Humza Yousaf went on to win.
At the time, he said: “While there was no intent to mislead, I accept that this has been the outcome.”
In April 2023, Mr Murrell was arrested as part of a probe into the SNP’s funding and finances. He was later charged with embezzling SNP funds in April last year.
Ms Sturgeon and ex-party treasurer MSP Colin Beattie have also been arrested and released without charge as part of Police Scotland’s long-running Operation Branchform.
The probe, which has been ongoing since July 2021, is linked to the spending of around £600,000 raised by SNP supporters to be earmarked for Scottish independence campaigning.
Ms Sturgeon continues to deny any wrongdoing. In an interview last month, the Glasgow Southside MSP said she knew “nothing more” about the inquiry and was getting on with life “as best I can at the moment”.
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Tulip Siddiq has sought to distance herself from her aunt, deposed Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, claiming they never spoke about politics.
But Sky News can reveal that in a blog written by the now City minister she boasted about how close they were politically and published photos of them together.
In posts written in late 2008 and early 2009, when she was a Labour activist, Ms Siddiq described campaigning with her aunt in Bangladesh’s general election and celebrating her victory.
Our disclosure coincides with a new report in The Times which reveals how the embattled MP’s Labour Party flyers were found in the palace in Dhaka that belonged to her aunt, who was ousted in a coup last year.
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Labour’s Tulip Siddiq risks losing job
The blog is headed: “Tulip Siddiq, member of the Labour Party action team in Bloomsbury and King’s Cross”, and in a post on January 11, 2009, Ms Siddiq told supporters: “I was really busy in Bangladesh as you probably gathered…
“I’ve put up photos of Sheikh Hasina’s post-election press conference at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka.
“The most significant element of this press conference for me was Sheikh Hasina’s insistence that all the political parties in Bangladesh need to work together for the welfare of the country.
“It is no secret that past governments have not worked with the other political parties and we need to change this trend.
“The prime minister emphasised that the Awami League does not support the ‘politics of vengeance’ which is encouraging so let’s hope that a new political culture is created this year.”
She added: “Here’s an action shot of me with the prime minister at the press conference. I’m not sure what I was saying but it probably wasn’t that interesting!”
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‘Tulip Siddiq will lose job if she broke rules’
In a post on January 21, 2009, she wrote: “I was fortunate enough to travel with Sheikh Hasina in her car during election day.
“The prime minister-elect (Prime Ministerial candidate at the time!) drove to several constituencies in Dhaka and stopped quickly at each one to meet the parliamentary candidate or speak to the voters.”
Describing traveling in her aunt’s car, she wrote: “You can see all my photos from election day here… I apologise for the poor quality of some of the pictures. I was taking photos from inside her car which is actually quite difficult!”
“You’ll also see a photo of Dhaka Central Jail. I took that photo because Sheikh Hasina told me that this jail was practically her second home for most of her childhood as her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was under arrest for many years.
“She told me that she visited him with the rest of her family every weekend, so it was a very familiar landmark.”
Earlier, on December 29, 2008, under the heading “Victory!”, Ms Siddiq wrote: “The Awami League have won the elections by a landslide! Sheikh Hasina is the prime minister-elect! I am ecstatic!
“I’ve been on the campaign trail with Sheikh Hasina all day so I don’t really have the energy to write much more but I will do so tomorrow.
“However, I can’t resist uploading a couple of photos. This is Sheikh Hasina’s face just before she heard the results from an unwinnable constituency.
“Here she is after she heard that the Awami League hard work had paid off in that seat.”
The Times reports that political literature of Ms Siddiq, Sir Keir Starmer’s anti-corruption minister, was found at the heavily guarded palace in Dhaka, covered by dust and debris.
At the top of a staircase were items produced by Ms Sidddiq. One was a thank you note to local Labour Party members following her election as MP for Hampstead and Kilburn.
Read more:
Even if Siddiq resigns, the damage may already be done to Starmer
Badenoch calls on PM to sack minister over property allegations
Another was her annual report for 2022, inviting readers to learn about her help for those affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
The new disclosures will pile further pressure on Ms Siddiq and lead to further calls on the prime minister to sack her.
Many Labour MPs believe her ministerial career is now hanging by a thread.
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On Sky News earlier, cabinet minister Peter Kyle told Trevor Phillips Ms Siddiq was right to submit herself to an ethics investigation over corruption allegations and strongly hinted she would be sacked if found to have broken the ministerial code.
Asked whether she should stand down until she is cleared of impropriety, Mr Kyle said: “I think she’s done exactly the right thing. She’s referred herself that the inquiry needs to go through. I think that that’s the appropriate way forward.
“I’m giving it all the space it needs to do. I’ll be listening for the outcome as the Prime Minister will be.
“There was a process underway and we know full well it will be a functional process, and the outcomes of it will be stuck to by the prime minister and this government, a complete contrast to what we’ve had in the past.”
Sky News has approached Ms Siddiq and the Labour Party for comment.
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