Politics, Poverty and Belief

More about the book

In this touching but also profound memoir, Field explains two key factors in his upbringing - the poverty of his own childhood and the deep and lasting effect of his Christian socialism, as exemplified in the writings of F. D. Maurice and William Temple. Field has spent his adult life fighting against poverty in Britain, through parliament and through his strong personal influence. Poverty for him has injustice at its root and as he explains in this book, he has found allies on all sides of the political spectrum. He was appointed by Tony Blair to be the Secretary of State for Pensions, but the reforms he advocated were so radical and essentially just, that Tony Blair could not contemplate them and Field stood down.