Terry Fields

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terence Fields, known as Terry Fields, (born 8 March 1937) is a British politician and a former Labour Member of Parliament for the (now defunct) constituency of Liverpool Broadgreen from 1983 until 1992.

In 1983, Terry Fields stood as a candidate in the general elections promising that, should he win, he would be "a worker's MP on a worker's wage". He won the constituency, making Liverpool Broadgreen the only Labour takeover of a previously Conservative seat in that year's election, admittedly on favourable constituency boundary changes.

On 11 July 1991, Fields was jailed for refusing to pay his poll tax, having evaded a £373 bill. His court sentence lasted 60 days, meaning Fields retained his seat in the House of Commons, as MPs automatically lose their seat if they are imprisoned for over a year.

A member of the Militant Tendency, Fields was criticised by members of the Labour Party, for his militant approach towards the poll tax, and his lack of support for other Labour candidates. He was expelled from the Labour Party in September 1991, by the leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, who stated: "Law makers must not be law breakers. I have always made that clear."

In the 1992 general election, he stood as an independent against the official Labour candidate, Jane Kennedy, but lost his seat, winning 14% of the vote.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by:
(new constituency)
Member of Parliament for Liverpool Broadgreen
19831992
Succeeded by:
Jane Kennedy