Here comes the Field artillery

Rob

ALways did like Frank. See, there are some decent Labour MP's out there! They are in the minority though.

Vulture

Sorry, I cannot have any respect for the sainted Field so long as he remains a member of his utterly corrupt and disgraced party. If he actually left it today, he would deserve our attention. Until then, this is just hot air.

Anand

The man should help bring about the downfall of Brown and then jump shop to the Lib Dems...

Nick Kaplan

I despise Labour, but Field is one of a very few Labour MPs for whom I have upmost respect. He is always honest, he is incredibly insightful and most importantly he is principled. When is he going to cross the floor and join the Conservative benches? We could do with people like him.

John Page

He was too good for the speakership, and Labour would never have voted for him anyway.

You've concentrated on the narrowly political passage in his post, but his final paragraph is the most interesting

"Similarly, the failure to deal with immigration and Europe is poisoning our political system. I have set out in the Balanced Migration campaign how we should counter positively the BNP. Similarly, we need to cut loose European politics from our domestic politics. Voters have no party to represent their worries on this score, only the BNP with their evil interests."

I don't pretend to understand what "cut loose European politics from our domestic politics" means, but he's clearly saying that voter concerns about immigration and about the EU should be taken seriously.

Judging by other contributions, this is not a message which Spectator journalists want to hear.

Frank P

If Field starts the final stage of the revolt and then stands for Leader of the Labour party he could win by a country mile and probably win a general election, too, garnering the votes of the old labour constituency which has been so neglected for the past decade. That is very bad news for the Tory Party.

strapworld

Frank, Vulture speaks sense,
cross the floor, join the Tories or Lib Dems.

You know it makes sense.
You lead others will follow!

Paul

Frank is quite correct. Unhappily, he is unliked by the majority of the PLP and so his words carry little weight. Mores the pity!

jaydeeaitch

Peter, what do you mean by "integrous"

Michael

Just watched Daily Politics with Roy Hattersley and everyone was avoiding the "elephant . . " refusing to talk about Gordon and the British People, though there were some polls which suggested this or that.
The sad thing is that no one will discuss the distaste that the electorate has for this man, his politics, his arrogance, his deceit, thuggish behaviour (at least FF has now come out in addition to Jane Kennedy) his dishonesty. There is this massive issue and the MSM will not discuss it. It is to be hoped that the PLP will at last come to it's senses and discuss what sort of political party they want to belong to, and caste aside forever the New Labour model and opt for something decent and honorable.
We might like them a whole lot more. I am spitting chips over this whole thing but I can't see the end of it.
Hopefully Frank Field can at last wield some influence over his colleagues. It was hard when Labour was on a winning streak, but now that they are on a losing streak (Stephen Byers)they might listen to him

Ed B

Why not jump ship to the Conservatives? Field's thinking on welfare is very much in line with the Tories, and I would dearly love to see him as Sec of State for Work and Pensions in the first Cameron cabinet. I'm sure he would also make a very good Commons Speaker, but his real talents would be wasted there.

Pete Hoskin

jaydeeaitch: I must admit it's not in the OED, but it's a uncommon word (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/integrous) meaning "characterised by integrity". I've always thought it should be used more often - as it's useful to have an adjectival form of "integrity".

Wily Trout

Problem with the PLP is, they have been subjected to their own schooling for far too long and none of them below the age of about 50 has the ability to analyse what they are told by their masters.

Dirty Euro

Why do tories care who leads labour? What has it got to do with you? You get worked up about it here all the time. I could not care less whop leads the tories they are all the same. You lot live in the silly notion that we will replace him with a tory.

richardj

Darling is the one who could and should deliver the killer blow. He knows that Brown lied in his Press Conference on Friday and he can verify what happened regarding Brown's attempt to replace him as Chancellor. However he has not got the guts or the sense of duty to the rest of the country to put an end to the unelected one.

Stephen

Pete
'Integrous' might not be a word yet (by virtue of an unfortunate omission from the OED) but if Coffee-Housers (also not a word) agree to use it in everyday conversation more often and you and your colleagues agree to use it in your writing and blogging more often then the OED will bow to the inevitable and permit it in a future edition. And, whatever else our ramblings on this site will have achieved, the English language will have been enriched.

Verity

Vulture is correct and so is Strapworld. As long as Frank Field remains in this disgraced, debauched, fascist party, he is tainted irremedially by it.

The Preston Park Panther

Forgive me if I've asked this before, but what on earth is this patently good and wise man doing in the Labour Party? Is it pity?

Mirtha Tidville

Frank Field is one of the few entitled to be called Honourable. He does stand up for the little man, note how he singhandedly won the 10p tax fiasco to the benefit of ordinary people. Love him to bits `cause he is genuine & thats why his party hate him

Pete Hoskin

Stephen: good call. I sense a campaign brewing!

Chris

Frank P, don't be silly. The PLP hate him, because he's right.

Tiberius

Dirty Euro: I care about who leads the Labour Party because the person (euphemism) in question is responsible for the greater or lesser degree that I get shat on.

Anand

I have sent Frank Field MP an email via his website emploring him to ditch the Labour Party and join the Lib Dems or Conservatives. He is so valued as an MP by those of blue and yellow hue, why does he remain in a pol pot dictatorship party like New Labour. Lets hope he catches the mood of his "fans"

Rob C

Vulture@2:15 - I always enjoy reading your posts and I agree with much of what you say, but to ignore someone because they are a member of another party portrays you in a poor light. In contrast, I have the utmost respect for Frank Field and regularly read his blog. For me, he gains more respect for speaking out against his party and more MPs should do likewise! Balanced debate is healthy and whilst Labour may have more than its share of 'looney tunes', Frank is clearly not one. Politics needs healthy opposition in order to avoid extremism and even I, as a staunch anti-union, pro-freedom Tory wouldn't want to see the demise of Labour. I'm not a typical Tory in that I was raised on a council estate by my mother alone - who, I should add was crippled by Arthritis before I left school, yet still did her utmost in paying for my sister & myself to attend private school. Whilst I cannot fault some of Labours objectives, their methods and many ideologies are fundamentally flawed. I'd like to eradicate child poverty, give free healthcare, better pensions etc, but I also believe passionately in fairness and opportunity - giving everyone the chance to improve their own circumstances. Labour stifle this with centralization, rules and taxes, when in fact a free market, freedom of choice and lack of interference are the best means. What has Brown done for child poverty or pensions? More children will suffer as a direct result of his economic incompetence and pensions have been decimated. We live in a dictator state under Brown and his years of meddling with taxes have destroyed our future and worse, that of our children. Pensions, the economy, education, armed services, civil service and even the NHS are all a mess thanks to 12 years of gross mis-management by Labour - whatever their intentions. We, as Tories however must share the blame as we haven't shouted loudly enough or convincingly enough to persuade friends & colleagues to have kicked them out years ago! Brown will undoubtedly condemn Labour to at least 10 years in opposition and perhaps much longer when the real damage becomes apparent. However, if Labour becomes a minority party, the Lib-Dems will become the main opposition and that I think, frightens me even more...

Ian Walker

I expect that there is no standard English adjectival form of 'integrity', because it doesn't (or shouldn't) really represent a particular quality, but more the steadfast holding of other qualities.

So 'steadfast' will do fine for the general concept, or for the specific qualities that we tend to like in someone 'integrous', perhaps just getting all Plain English and calling them 'honest', 'principled', 'truthful', etc.?

Making up new words is very New Labour......

Jeremy

Frank Field:

"It is simply absurd to argue, as does No. 10, that the next leader must call an immediate general election."

Half a league, Mr Field. Don't you think that appointing two unelected Prime Ministers in a row might constitute an extraction of the Michael too far? I mean, cannot the Labour Party trust its own MPs (or its own membership, for that matter) to run a decent leadership election featuring a number of different candidates, ideas and programmes? Is the Labour Party not a democratic party? After all, I seem to remember the Conservatives holding a successful leadership election just a few short years ago. And they emerged none the worse for the experience.

And what about the people? Are they not entitled to vote on this government's record in a General Election before having a second unelected Prime Minister foisted upon them? Why do you seem so afraid of the voters? Why will the Labour Party apparently bend over backwards sooner than allow the voters to simply exercise their franchise?

Have you something to fear from them?

"Similarly, the failure to deal with immigration and Europe is poisoning our political system. I have set out in the Balanced Migration campaign how we should counter positively the BNP. Similarly, we need to cut loose European politics from our domestic politics. Voters have no party to represent their worries on this score, only the BNP with their evil interests."

Mr Field, have you never heard of a party called UKIP? I think you will find that it performed rather well in a recent poll, the results of which were announced just last night...

Pete Hoskin

Ian Walker: but it's not a made-up word; it's just an extremely rarely-used, slightly archaic, one.

Simon Stephenson

Dirty Euro 3.10pm

"Why do tories care who leads labour? What has it got to do with you?"

Because we'd rather have someone who's benign to the country than someone who is malignant.

"I could not care less whop leads the tories they are all the same."

Great insight. You've obviously done a lot of study.

"You lot live in the silly notion that we will replace him with a tory."

Don't be ridiculous. Adversarial politics can work quite well as long as both sides behave in such a way as will allow their opponents to respect them. Brown considers every opponent to be an enemy; he has no respect for them, he tries to destroy them, and as a direct result it is impossible for him to command respect; he structures discussions to avoid any risk of having to concede ground, and consequently, he never learns anything. He's a totally unsuitable person to be in charge of anything affecting other people, and his period of influence in the Labour Party has been nothing short of disastrous for the well-being of the country. With the probable exception of Ed Balls, who behaves similarly, any member of his party would make a better PM.

Verity

A man is known by the company he keeps.