Modern Britain and the Labour Party, with Frank Field and Connie Bostock (Oxford PPE Society, released 12 June 2020)

Empowered Belonging

"The Labour Party could have gone to town and given me legal costs which would bankrupt me, so I accepted being thrown out the party."
Frank Field served as the Labour MP for Birkenhead for 40 years, first entering Parliament when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, and leaving it in 2019 following his resignation of the party whip a year earlier.
In this short 23-minute episode we discuss some of the challenges facing Britain in 2020. In particular, we discuss the coronavirus pandemic and Black Lives Matter. Recorded in-between the removal of statues commemorating slave traders, we also touch on how we should discuss this crucial, delicate issue. Further, Frank opens the lid on his experiences in the Labour Party, including the circumstances in which he left, as well as how Keir Starmer can change its fortunes.
Frank spent much of his time in Parliament working on welfare. He served for only a year under Tony Blair as the Minister of Welfare Reform, from 1997-98. Blair had said Frank's mission was to "think the unthinkable", and later wrote that "the problem was not so much that his thoughts were unthinkable as unfathomable." Frank went on to be one of the Labour Government's most vocal critics.
In August 2018, he resigned the Labour whip, citing anti-semitism in the party, and a "culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation". Frank lost a confidence vote in his constituency party a month before his resignation, after siding with the government in Brexit votes.