Field is best known for operating in minority government with the support of the Independents, Tasmania's nascent Green party, with an agreement known as the Labor–Green Accord.
Field grew up on the north-west coast of Tasmania, attending Devonport High School.
He was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly for Braddon in 1976 and was at various times a cabinet minister, premier and leader of the opposition.
When the accord was signed on 29 May, Gray asked the Governor, Sir Phillip Bennett for new elections.
However, Bennett refused, concluding that Gray no longer had enough support to govern and had therefore lost the right to seek a dissolution.
Field's government presided over painful fiscal reforms that, while unpopular at the time, helped rehabilitate the state's finances in the long run.
However, Groom had also promised only to govern in majority, and resigned as premier in favour of Tony Rundle, who reached a deal with the Greens.