Frank Field exemplified everything good and decent about politics and public service. He was a genuinely brilliant man and it says far more about our system than it does about Frank that he was seen more as a maverick than as the towering figure he really was. In the US, for example, he would have been one of those independently minded Senators who wields influence because of their intellectual and political gravitas (I always thought of Frank as a British version of Daniel Patrick Moynihan). As it happens, I owe my career to Frank, at least indirectly. I was in an admin job I hated - nothing to do with politics, policy or journalism - and saw his ad in the Guardian for a researcher. I didn’t get the job but a few months later I got a call out of the blue from Peter Shore’s secretary asking if I would like to come for an interview as his research assistant. Frank had passed on some of the more promising applications to Peter - and I was the beneficiary. I got that job and that opened up a new world to me, which in various guises I’ve been in ever since. I got to know Frank properly when I was at the Fabian Society and soon got used to his unerring ability to point out what was wrong (and, very occasionally, right) with things I wrote and discussed. More importantly, he was a never-ending source of ideas for us to publish. RIP Frank
@stephenpollard The world especially now needs more Frank Fields. A brilliant and non tribal figure who genuinely added to parliaments consideration of the UKs issues. He will be greatly missed. A life of great public service. RIP
@stephenpollard @AllisonPearson Frank Field was indeed a good man and he was treated badly by the Sovialists for sticking to his beliefs…
@stephenpollard I absolutely agree. Good tribute to Frank Field by David Blunkett @BBCr4today this morning.
@stephenpollard You obviously didn't know him!
@stephenpollard So it was his fault then.
@stephenpollard This tells us all we need to know about quisling Field.