Politics, Poverty and Belief: A Political Memoir

In the increasingly dirty world of British politics, one man has stood out for unimpeachable integrity - the former Labour Member of Parliament for Birkenhead, Frank Field.

In this touching but also profound memoir, the veteran former Labour MP and social campaigner Frank Field reveals the poverty of his own childhood and the deep and lasting effect of his Christian socialism.

Field has spent his life fighting poverty in Britain, and has found allies on all sides of the political spectrum. In this book, Field talk about his activism, his foundational work with the Child Poverty Action Group and his work passing legislation for the Minimum Living Wage. He explains why he has dedicated his life to speaking out against the corruption of greed and power and writes with great alacrity about the titans of his political age, including Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher. In the end, Field’s zeal for reform was too much for too many people, and, in 2015, he was deselected by his own local Labour party.

Politics, Poverty and Belief is an implicit indictment of modern British politics - the world of cash for questions, Partygate and all the rest - in which the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

The Rt Hon Frank Field MP was formerly Minister for Welfare Reform in Tony Blair’s first government. He was MP for Birkenhead for 40 years from 1979 to 2019. He has spent his whole life fighting the war on poverty.