Frank Field and David Marquand: Tributes flow in to ‘social justice crusader’ and ‘giant of social democracy’

Tributes have been paid to the former Labour minister and cross-bench peer Frank Field, after his family announced his death after an illness.

The news on Wednesday morning came just hours after the writer Anthony Barnett said his friend David Marquand, a former Labour MP, historian and political thinker, had also died after a “long illness”.

Field, 81, was director of Child Poverty Action Group in the 1970s, before serving as Labour MP for Birkenhead, Wirral, in north-west England for four decades from 1979.

He campaigned continually over poverty, and served as a minister for welfare reform at the start of Tony Blair’s first term in office as Prime Minister, though only lasted a year after reported clashes with other ministers.

Field campaigned for Brexit and quit Labour in 2018 shortly after a no-confidence vote by his local party, condemning the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and anti-semitism within the party. He became a cross-bench peer in 2020, and published a memoir last year.

Marquand was MP for Ashfield from 1966 to 1977, and is well known for his books including The Progressive Dilemma and a history of the former Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.

Field: ‘Crusader for social justice’

Labour leader Keir Starmer said Field’s death was a “profound loss to politics and to our nation”.

He said: “Frank dedicated his life to being a voice for the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the country.

“Frank was principled, courageous and independent-minded. He cared about the people he served, thought deeply about the issues he championed, and worked entirely for the good of the people of Birkenhead as their MP for 40 years.

“His honour and integrity were well known and admired.”

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “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. Whether in his work on child poverty or in his time devoted to the reform of our welfare system, he stood up and stood out for the passion and insight he brought to any subject.”

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Rest in peace, Frank Field. 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.”

Mick Whitley, current Birkenhead MP and well to the left of Field, said Field’s “campaigns against poverty and his support for the people of our town are a priceless legacy”.

Alison McGovern, shadow minister for employment and social security who will stand in Birkenhead at the next election, said “everyone in the Wirral will be thinking of his life and contribution”.

“He was indeed unique and a very special person to work with. His work will have an impact for many years to come. Thinking of his loved ones.”

Former adviser to Tony Blair Alistair Campbell said: “A good man driven by convictions that never wavered. Perhaps more suited to life as a campaigner and policy thought leader than as minister but he could look back on a life well lived and a political career that made a difference. RIP.”

Another Labour MP, Margaret Hodge, said: “Frank Field was an exceptional campaigner and politician who made an enormous contribution to tackling poverty and disadvantage. From CPAG to Parliament he showed complete fearless integrity and was never afraid of speaking out with radical ideas. We will all miss him.”

Shadow minister Chris Bryant called him “a man of often uncomfortable principle”, but who “made our politics better”.

Channel 4 News correspondent Paul McNamara noted praise from the Tory benches too, with former Home Secretary Priti Patel calling him a “great Parliamentarian”.

Marquand: ‘Giant of social democracy’

Former Labour minister and current parliamentary candidate Douglas Alexander called Marquand “a giant of social democracy & progressive thinking in Britain”, adding: “His writing articulated a vision of the good society that resonates to this day.”

Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “David’s influence cannot be understated – what a loss to progressive thinking. Thoughts very much with his family and friends.”

Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank and a LabourList columnist, called Marquand a “fantastic thinker and writer after his career as an MP”.

“I found The Progressive Dilemma particularly compelling: it was published in 1991 when I was 17 and doing A-level politics. It had a big influence on my thinking.”

Nick Garland, editor of the journal Renewal and an adviser to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, said: “I never met David Marquand but not sure anyone has had such a big intellectual influence on me. And what a great writer.”

Author and politics lecturer Colm Murphy said that Marquand’s Unprincipled Society was a “bracing and potent book that reshaped liberal and left debates in the 1980s-90s”.

Neal Lawson, director of think tank Compass, described Marquand as a “giant amongst social democratic thinkers”.

He said Marquand “was a left pluralist who knew that only an alliance of progressives built on deep principles of equality and democracy would take us to the good society he dreamed of and worked all his life to achieve.”