Former Labour minister Frank Field dies aged 81

Former Labour minister and crossbench peer Frank Field has died aged 81, his family has announced.

"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," a statement said.

Lord Field spent 40 years as MP for Birkenhead and was a leading voice on welfare reform for much of his career.

He was a minister under Tony Blair and joined the House of Lords in 2020.

A statement from Lord Field of Birkenhead's family, issued by his parliamentary office, said he had died following a period of illness.

"Frank was an extraordinary individual who spent his life fighting poverty, injustice and environmental destruction," the statement said.

"His decency and faith in people's self-interested altruism made a unique contribution to British politics."

The politician announced in 2021 that he was suffering from a terminal illness. He died in a London care home on Tuesday night.

Lord Field briefly served as minister for welfare reform in Tony Blair's first term in government.

He was given a brief to "think the unthinkable" but the former prime minister later appeared to regret the appointment, describing Lord Field's solutions as not so much "unthinkable" as "unfathomable".

Paying tribute, Sir Tony said in a statement: "Frank had integrity, intelligence and deep commitment to the causes he believed in.

"He was an independent thinker never constrained by conventional wisdom, but always pushing at the frontier of new ideas.

"Even when we disagreed, I had the utmost respect for him as a colleague and a character."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Lord Field had "dedicated his life to being a voice for the most vulnerable" and his death was "a profound loss to politics and to our nation".

Labour MP Harriet Harman, who was secretary of state for social security when Lord Field was a minister in the department, said he was "clever, persistent and caring".

"At Frank's core was the conviction that poverty was never to be accepted and could be ended," she added.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting described him as "a great parliamentarian, crusader for social justice and source of wise counsel".

"What a blessing to have known him and benefited from his advice and kindness, even as his illness gripped him," he said.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle 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."

He added: "Suffice to say, he was one of a kind and he will be sorely missed."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "Frank Field was a decent, moral, and thoughtful man.

"He was a great parliamentarian - he made our politics better and raised the level of national debate in this country."

Lord Field had built a reputation as one of the most effective backbenchers in the House of Commons, with campaigns against poverty and for curbs on EU immigration.

He quit Labour's group in Parliament in 2018, saying Jeremy Corbyn's leadership had become "a force for antisemitism in British politics".

He stood as an independent candidate in Birkenhead at the 2019 general election, finishing second with 17% of the vote.

He was made a non-affiliated, crossbench peer by the Conservative government in 2020, after campaigning in favour of Brexit.

The veteran politician was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2021, describing it at the time as a "terrific privilege".