Former Labour minister and crossbench peer Frank Field has died aged 81 following a two-year battle with terminal cancer.
The veteran politician who served as an MP for Birkenhead for 40 years and as the minister of reform under Tony Blair‘s government was well respected across the parliament benches.
After serving as an MP from 1979 to 2019, he joined the House of Lords in 2020.
A statement from Lord Field of Birkenhead’s family, issued by his Parliamentary officem, read: ‘Frank Field has died at the age of 81 following a period of illness.
‘Frank is survived by two brothers.’
Former Labour minister and crossbench peer Frank Field has died aged 81
Frank Field quite the Labour whip in 2018 after he had a row with then leader Jeremy Corbyn
Lord Field (pictured in 1973) served as an MP for 40 years from 1979 to 2019 before joining the House of Lords in 2020
In October 2021, it was revealed in the House of Lords that veteran politician has recently spent time in a hospice and that he was not well enough to attend debates.
Throughout his career, Lord Field built a reputation an one of the most effective backbenchers with curbs on EU immigration and campaigns against poverty.
In 2018, he quit the Labour whip in Parliament after a row with then leader Jeremy Corbyn, who he said was’ a force for anti-Semitism in British politics.
The Conservatives made him a non-affiliated crossbench peer by the Conservative government in 2020 after he campaigned in favour of Brexit.
Back in October 2021, the former minister revealed he was terminally will as he urged the House of Lords to ease the law to allow assisted dying.
At the time, Lord Field was too ill to attend Parliament as peers debated changing legislation to enable adults with no hope of recovery to legally seek assistance to end their lives.
In a message read out in the House of Lords at the time, he admitted he had spent time in a hospice and urged them to change the law, citing a friend who had gone through the ‘full horror effects’ of cancer.
The news came as a shock to many in parliament at the time with Tory former housing secretary Robert Jenrick hailed him as ‘one of the politicians I have most admired and respected’.
Baroness Meacher read out the message from the peer, whom she said was ‘dying’, in which he said: ‘I changed my mind on assisted dying when an MP friend dying of cancer wanted to die early before the full horror effects set in, but was denied this opportunity.
Frank Field revealed to the House of Lords in October 2021 that he was diagnosed with a terminal illness
The veteran politician was well respected across parliament. Tory former housing secretary Robert Jenrick hailed him as ‘one of the politicians I have most admired and respected’
The Conservatives made Frank Field a non-affiliated crossbench peer by the Conservative government in 2020 after he campaigned in favour of Brexit
‘A major argument against the Bill is unfounded. It is thought by some the culture would change and that people would be pressured into ending their lives.
‘The number of assisted deaths in the US and Australia remains very low – under 1 per cent – and a former supreme court judge of Victoria, Australia, about pressure from relatives, said it just hasn’t been an issue.
‘I hope the House will today vote for the Assisted Dying Bill.’
In an interview in January last year, Lord Field said it was ‘a strange experience taking so long to die’.
He said: ‘I’m pretty tired. It’s a strange experience taking so long to die. But there we are.
‘It’s affected my mouth, as you can see. It began about 10 years ago, when I was told I had prostate cancer.
‘The hospital said, we must keep a watching brief on this. And they didn’t. It spread everywhere.’