Philip Field was the only Labour MP for Mangere at that time to stand up in the labour caucus and say I will not vote for the civil unions bill. Here is a man who stood too his convictions even though he was abused as being homophobic by his colleagues.  They had to give him a special exemption to cross the floor to vote. So much for the so called conscience vote. No one else in the Labour Govt had the strength to stand up against Helen. No wonder all the slander and accusations started to come. labour had to get rid of him one way or the other. There were others who bowed to the pressure against there own convictions and beliefs for the sake of their political futures. Shame on them. We need men like Philip Fields to stand true to what they believe  regardless of the pressure to do otherwise.