EXCL: Frank Field says he could stand as independent MP at next election after quitting Labour whip
4 min read
Frank Field has vowed to stand as an independent candidate at the next general election if he cannot run for Labour amid a row over his membership of the party.
The veteran Birkenhead MP announced last month that he would no longer take the Labour whip after accusing leader Jeremy Corbyn of allowing the party to become a “force for anti-Semitism”.
He also hit out at a growing “culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation” in the ranks.
Mr Field - who has vowed to continue sitting in the House of Commons as an "independent Labour" MP - is currently locked in a legal battle with the party over whether or not he can remain a member.
But he told The House magazine he will stand in the constituency he has represented since 1979 regardless of the outcome.
“I wish to be the Labour candidate,” he said. “If I’m not the Labour candidate I will stand as near as I can as a Labour candidate and the people of Birkenhead will decide. It won’t be 35 comrades in a Militant-run Labour party.”
He added: “You know, I might have resigned the whip. I’d like to regain the whip if they deal with this terrible intolerance. But otherwise, providence willing, I’m standing at the next election. And the people of Birkenhead will decide who they want – not 35 members of Momentum.”
Mr Field – who lost a vote of confidence from local party members over the summer after he sided with the Government on a key Brexit vote – told The House that he had served Labour bosses with a “whacking huge letter drafted by brilliant lawyers” in a bid to keep his party membership.
“We’re in a country that believes great organisations like political parties are governed by law,” he said. “They’ve got to come back and, based on law – prove that they are within the law in kicking me out of membership of the Labour party.”
The MP added: “I will be fighting it until everybody in the country sees that they have no authority to kick me out.”
Mr Field also spoke out about efforts to find a replacement Labour candidate in his Merseyside seat, where he currently has a majority of more than 25,000.
“The more the merrier,” he said. “They’re all going to tear one another apart, aren’t they? There’s a whole number of ferrets in the sack already deciding they’re going to challenge me.”
He added: “I shall put up a good fight. But the body that’s sovereign at elections are the electorate. And I couldn’t be more happy that they are going to decide who’s going to be the member for Birkenhead.”
But a Labour source said: "Frank Field has not been expelled from the Party. He chose to resign."
Party sources meanwhile said Labour rules were "very clear" that quitting the Parliamentary Labour Party also meant resigning as a member. "There are therefore no grounds on which to mount a legal challenge," a source added.
'CHEQUERED'
Mr Field’s resignation has divided opinion among his former colleagues on the Labour benches.
Deputy leader Tom Watson has said his exit should serve as a “wake up” call for the party as it tackles claims of anti-Jewish abuse, while Ilford MP Wes Streeting has said it would be "a terrible mistake to cheer” his departure.
But one MP allied to the party leadership said Mr Field’s time in Parliament had been “chequered to say the least”, pointing to a previous call for tactical voting against left-wing Labour candidates in the 1987 general election.
They told The House: “I don't think many people will be too upset at his departure, particularly after voting with the Tories just before the summer recess on a key vote that could potentially have brought down the Government.”
However, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has left the door open to his “old mate” Mr Field’s return, telling the BBC: “I think he can continue to make a valuable contribution as a Labour Party member. And I want him to come back into the fold.
“But there's issues that need to be resolved and we can do that, I think, constructively and amicably. And I think his local constituency want this as well.”
The Birkenhead MP - who chairs Parliament’s work and pensions committee - is currently carrying out an independent review of the country’s modern slavery laws for Prime Minister Theresa May as well as an ongoing series of reports on life in the gig economy.
The full interview with Mr Field - including his take on the "inadequate" support given to victims of "horrifying" modern slavery and the "monstrous” conduct of gig economy bosses - is available to read here
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
