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Terence Fields (8 March 1937 – 28 June 2008) was a British politician and firefighter. A member of the Militant group, he was the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Member of Parliament for
Liverpool Broadgreen Liverpool Broadgreen was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Broadgreen suburb of Liverpool. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created for t ...
from 1983 to 1992. He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1991 with the rest of Militant. Earlier he had been on the executive of the
Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded ins ...
.


Early life and activism

Fields was born in
Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Historically part of Lancashire, Bootle's ...
, north of
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, the son of a dockworker.Tam Dalyel
"Terry Fields: Labour MP from the Militant Tendency Who Was Jailed for 60 Days for Refusing to Pay the Poll Tax"
, ''The Independent'', 2 July 2008 Educated at the Major Street County Secondary School and at De La Salle Grammar School in Liverpool, Fields then spent two years on
National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...
in the Royal Army Medical Corps,Obituary: Terry Fields
, telegraph.co.uk, 1 July 2008 an experience that he later claimed had radicalised him. Despite eye problems (which caused him to wear dark glasses), he became a fireman and later a
Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded ins ...
activist. Fields joined the Labour Party in 1968. He was active in the Fire Brigades Union's national 1977–78 strike and shortly afterwards he joined the Militant group. At the Labour Party's special conference in 1980 on the question of how to elect the
Labour leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of the ...
, Fields spoke before Denis Healey and said: "We need coordinated action by the whole of our class to get the Tories out, and the democracy that is being pumped out in the capitalist press is their democracy, not ours. We will found a new democracy when we have created a socialist state in this country. ... To the weak-hearted, the traitors and cowards I say: 'Get out of our movement. There is no place for you. Cross the House of Commons.'"Francis Becket
"Obituary: Terry Fields"
, ''The Guardian'', 1 July 2008


Parliamentary career

Fields was selected as the Labour Party candidate for
Liverpool Broadgreen Liverpool Broadgreen was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Broadgreen suburb of Liverpool. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was created for t ...
for the general election in 1983. This was a new seat, but it was estimated by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and ITN that had it been fought at the previous election in 1979 it would have returned a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
MP with majority of 565. In line with Militant policy, he promised during his campaign that, if he was elected, he would be "a workers' MP on a worker's wage", a promise he kept by drawing only the equivalent of a fireman's wages and donating the balance of his MP's salary to trade union causes and, according to Doris Heffer, "to the party causes or, frankly, also to the coffers of Militant Tendency." Fields gained the friendship of other Labour MPs, including Doris Heffer's husband,
Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
. Fields made his maiden speech on 24 June 1983. His interventions in Parliament focused on issues unique to Liverpool as well as
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
, unemployment, and the coalmining and maritime transport industries. On 11 July 1991, Fields was jailed for refusing to pay his poll tax bill of £373. In defence of the court's decision, Labour leader
Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
said: "Law makers must not be law breakers. I have always made that clear.""1991: Anti-Poll Tax MP Jailed"
, BBC On this Day, 11 July Fields's sentence was for 60 days, meaning that he retained his seat in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, as MPs automatically lose their seat if they are imprisoned for more than a year. Labour Party members criticised Fields for his militant approach to the poll tax and his failure to support other Labour candidates, in particular
Peter Kilfoyle Peter Kilfoyle (born 9 June 1946) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Walton from 1991 to 2010. Early life The eleventh of fourteen children born to an Irish Catholic family on Merseyside, ...
in a
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
for the neighbouring constituency of
Liverpool Walton Liverpool, Walton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Dan Carden of the Labour Party. Carden won the highest percentage share of the vote in June 2017 of 650 constituencies, 85.7%. It is t ...
, following Eric Heffer's death. Fields was expelled from the Labour Party in December 1991 along with other members of Militant, including
Dave Nellist David John Nellist (born 16 July 1952) is a British Trotskyist activist who was the MP for the constituency of Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Elected as a Labour MP, his support for the Militant tendency led to his eventual expulsion f ...
, then the only other MP who was a member of the tendency.


Later life

At the 1992 general election, Fields stood as an independent, winning 14% of the vote, while the official Labour Party candidate,
Jane Kennedy Jane Kennedy may refer to: * Jane Kennedy (courtier) (died 1589), Scottish courtier *Jane Kennedy (actress) (born 1964), Australian actress and comedian *Jane Kennedy (politician) (born 1958), British Labour Party Member of Parliament See also *Ja ...
, was elected. After losing his seat, Fields ran The Mayflower, a pub on Fazakerley Street in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, for six months. He did not join the
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
, into which Militant eventually developed. In 2002, at the age of 65, he returned briefly to the limelight after entering a burning house to rescue a woman trapped inside. Fields died at his family home in Netherton on Saturday 28 June 2008, of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
.
Bob Wareing Robert Nelson Wareing (20 August 1930 – 1 May 2015) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool West Derby from 1983 to 2010. Until 2007, he was a Labour MP but resigned the party whip following his desele ...
, a Liverpool Labour MP for 25 years, said at the time: "Even though we might disagree on the methods used by Militant Tendency, we in Liverpool could not but respect the sincerity and principled behaviour of Terry Fields." A memorial meeting for Fields, held shortly after his death, attracted 200 people.Paillard, C
"Terry Fields Memorial Meeting"
, ''The Socialist'', 3 September 2008. (retrieved 25 June 2010)


See also

*
Fiona Onasanya Fiona Oluyinka Onasanya (; born 23 August 1983) is a former British Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) who was removed from that role as a result of a criminal conviction. She was elected in the 2017 United Kingdom general election for the ...
—Labour MP for
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
who was the next sitting MP to be jailed after Fields


References


External links

*
Terry Fields Archive
at marxists.org
Terry Fields' Maiden Speech in Parliament
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
(retrieved 25 June 2010)
Ex-MP Terry Fields dies aged 71
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
(retrieved 29 June 2008)
Terry Fields, Militant MP dies – the workers' MP on a workers’ wage
International Marxist Tendency The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) is an international Trotskyist political tendency founded by Ted Grant and his supporters following their break with the Committee for a Workers' International in 1992. The organization's website, Marxi ...
(retrieved 30 June 2008)
Catalogue of Fields' papers
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Terry 1937 births 2008 deaths British firefighters British politicians convicted of crimes English Trotskyists Deaths from lung cancer in England Trade unionists from Liverpool Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Liverpool constituencies Militant tendency supporters People from Bootle Politicians from Liverpool Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom