Frank Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead
The Lord Field of Birkenhead | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee | |
| In office 18 June 2015 – 6 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Anne Begg |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Timms |
| Minister for Welfare Reform | |
| In office 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Peter Lilley |
| Succeeded by | John Denham |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 11 September 2020 – 23 April 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament for Birkenhead | |
| In office 3 May 1979 – 6 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Edmund Dell |
| Succeeded by | Mick Whitley |
| Member of Hounslow Council for Turnham Green | |
| In office 7 May 1964 – 9 May 1968 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Frank Ernest Field 16 July 1942 Edmonton, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 23 April 2024 (aged 81) London, England |
| Political party | Crossbench |
| Other political affiliations |
|
| Alma mater | University of Hull |
| Website | Official website |
Frank Ernest Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead, CH, PC, DL (16 July 1942 – 23 April 2024) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birkenhead for 40 years, from 1979 to 2019, serving as a Labour MP until 2018 and thereafter sitting as an independent. 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, he was awarded a life peerage in 2020 and sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
From 1997 to 1998, Field served as Minister of Welfare Reform in Tony Blair's first government. Field resigned following differences with Blair; as a backbencher, he soon became one of the Labour government's most vocal critics.
Field was elected chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee in 2015, and was re-elected unopposed following the 2017 general election.
In 2018, Field resigned the Labour whip 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 votes. His resignation of the whip also led to his departure from the wider membership of the Labour Party, according to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, although Field disputed this.