The loss of the Rt. Hon. Frank Field MP – a man of honour and integrity
REST IN PEACE DEAR FRANK FIELD – a hero of our time
This is a small personal tribute to the wonderful and irreplaceable Frank Field.
I am truly devastated at this tragic loss of a great man who it was a privilege to count as a personal friend of long-standing. Having visited him during his long illness, and having had the honour of working with him on various issues relating to social policy, pensions, taxation and welfare, it is hard to believe he is not still here.
He did so much for social welfare policy, particularly with child poverty, free school meals and minimum wage, but also much more.
He continued working as much as he was able to and defied all the medical experts, to survive for so long after they believed they had done all they could for him.
Frank was a real hero of modern times. Decent, principled and brave. He stood up for what he believed right, was devoted to his Christian faith and is such a loss to our country.
His defiance of the doctors for such a long time was really rather miraculous – he just refused to give up or give in, even after they informed him there was no hope.
Despite being tired physically he was mentally still so lucid and eager to feed into the debates of our time.
Many of us will miss him hugely.
I hope that his friends, colleagues and loved ones will all be comforted with the memories of happy times and his tremendous achievements for so many decades.
Rest in Peace dearest Frank.
4 thoughts on “The loss of the Rt. Hon. Frank Field MP – a man of honour and integrity”
I couldn’t agree more with all Ros Altmann has said about the wonderful Frank Field who was a real gentleman, as well as being a hugely dedicated MP and social campaigner, who never lost his sense of humour and never complained about the terrible pain he suffered, even before he became seriously ill with cancer. RIP
Few politicians go through careers without te lling lies, or seeking unfair advantage at the expense of truth. But Frank was a different animal and was a believer in honesty and fairness. And in the unnecessarily complicated world of pensions, mainly due to the incompetence and jealousness of Treasury officialdom drawing up the ‘rules’ and strictures, he was able to dismantle many pointless and restrictive practices and free up some clear thinking. I never met him but corresponded by email some 15 years ago when I was a pension IFA.
A great loss to the area