Why did they gag the Frank Field I so admire?

ONE of my first recollections as a backbench MP was listening to Frank Field talking about his principles and his bold proposals for welfare reform.

Frank's strong sense of Christianity has shaped his beliefs on welfare. He sees the State as having displaced the natural instinct of people who would wish to provide for themselves and their families, driving them from being in the deserving poor category into the undeserving category.

For Frank it has never been just about money.

The Prime Minister made a bold move in May promoting Frank from the backbenches to be his Minister of State for Welfare Reform.

For many this confirmed the belief that Frank has the right to be seen as a significant thinker on welfare reform. His reputation for clear analysis has grown over many years, culminating in his chairmanship of the Social Security select committee before the election.

The Prime Minister gave him the job because of his beliefs. He asked Frank not just to "think the unthinkable" but where necessary to do what had previously been considered by the Labour Party to be unthinkable. It was therefore reasonable to expect that his ideas would have been strongly reflected in the Green Paper he launched last Thursday.

It is a matter of some sadness that it doesn't reflect his beliefs and shows little sign of his input.

Frank said it would be seen as an historic moment by future generations. Instead it will be seen as a missed opportunity to put real programmes together for welfare reform.

It was typical of Frank that when the Conservatives launched our proposals on pensions before the last election, his instinct was to congratulate them for moving the debate on. At odds with his party, as so often in the past, he wanted to accentuate the positive.

Yet when he wrote an article for a national newspaper expressing these views, he was quickly leaned on by the Party and forced to change it before publication so it became much more critical and less positive.

It was his first major taste of political compromise, and should have indicated to him what was likely to happen. Too much is missing from his Green Paper because too many of his ideas and beliefs were vetoed by other ministers, especially Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Frank has long attacked the way in which, since the war, politicians of all persuasions have progressively means tested benefits. He believes means tests create dishonesty and trap people in dependency.

His concern in Opposition was to reduce means testing, yet there are no targets to do so in the Green Paper.

The Green Paper also failed to clarify the future of Child Benefit. Although Disability Living Allowance appears to be safe, the delay in the publication of the Green Paper led to unnecessary fear among disabled people.

In Opposition, Frank's most developed plans were for pensions reform. It was he who coined the phrase "stakeholder pension." Yet his detailed plans on pensions are not in the Green Paper.

His long-held belief in compulsory contributions to a second tier pension is only vaguely referred to. This is because pensions reform is the subject of a fierce debate with the Chancellor.

The Green Paper is vacuous because Mr Brown wants to drive welfare reform and wants to take the credit for any successes.

He is also distinctly uneasy about the the idea of someone who has a solid reputation as a free thinker gaining control of the biggest spending department in the Government. He sees the Department of Social Security as his responsibility.

The publication of a Green Paper was blocked by the Chancellor until after the March Budget and it was re-drafted so many times, each time removing one of Field's beliefs, that many on all sides were disappointed.

When the Government went on their nationwide roadshows to convince the Party faithful that welfare reform was necessary, they came back with their tails between their legs because they did not give their followers enough detail.

They just had an empty box marked welfare.

Frank always told me that the Green Paper would be the filling for the box. Unfortunately it has turned out to be merely the pretty wrapping paper.

There is a consensus for reform. Labour now need to develop policies for it. They have failed to do so. The Green Paper is a missed opportunity.

Tony Blair pledged he would radically reduce spending on welfare and use the savings for things like hospitals. But social security spending is not falling and waiting lists are rising.

When the Prime Minister appointed Frank Field we thought he wanted him to change the welfare state. Mr Blair must decide if he wants to make use of Frank's ideas, or merely benefit from his reputation.

If he wants the man to do the job, he must put him in charge and let him do it.

MAVERICK WITH A FOOT IN EACH CAMP

FEW can decide if Frank Field is a Thatcherite hardliner or a caring socialist in touch with his working class roots.

That's because the answer is both. His life, like his politics, has always straddled two worlds. The son of a labourer, he grew up seeing poverty all around but realised he could work his way out of it after winning a place at grammar school.

Now he won't tolerate wasted opportunities. He has no time for scroungers happy to sit back and wait for their dole cheques.

His first flirtation with politics was actually as a Young Conservative before he went to Hull University. But like many students in the rebellious 60s he left disillusioned with the Tories and became a Labour councillor. Now the publicity-shy intellectual wins as much praise from the Opposition as from within his own party.

Aged 55, he has never married. For the last 20 years he has lived in his constituency of Birkenhead. His home looks out on one of the area's roughest estates, blighted by crime and drugs. So when he says he wants to crack down on benefit cheats, and give the millions they waste to the people who need it, he knows where that line should be drawn.

After Field's commanding performance in the Commons this week Tony Blair is under pressure to move Social Security Secretary Harriet Harman and give her junior a free hand to reform the welfare system.

If that happens, his many admirers believe Frank Field will have fulfilled his destiny.

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