Twentieth-century political activist who fought on behalf of trade unions and served as the British Labour Party's General Secretary. He fought to illumine middle-class aspirations to wealth and attacked too much importance places on nationalisation.
He dropped out of school at the age of twelve to work for a coal mining company. Six years later, he joined the Labour Party.
He led International Socialist Committee conferences beginning in the mid-1940s.
He and his wife, Norah Lusher, had a daughter and a son. His daughter, Gwyneth, and his son-in-law, John Dunwoody, both became Labour Party members of the British Parliament.
Phillips' contemporary and fellow Labour Party member, Clement Attlee, led the party from 1935-1955 and served as British Prime Minister from 1945-1951.