Morgan Phillips

Morgan Walter Phillips (18 June 1902 – 15 January 1963) was a colliery worker and trade union activist who became the General Secretary of the British Labour Party, involved in two of the party's election victories.

Born in Aberdare, Glamorgan, one of the six children of William Phillips, Phillips was brought up in Bargoed. He left school when he was 12 to become a colliery surface worker.

When he was 18, Phillips became a member of the Caerphilly divisional Labour Party, and served as secretary of the party in Bargoed, 1923–25. He was chairman of the Bargoed Steam Coal Lodge, 1924–26. He was able to attend the Labour College, London for a two-year course in economic and social subjects. He remained in London and became secretary of the Labour Party in West Fulham, 1928–30. and later in Whitechapel, 1934-37. He became a councillor on Fulham borough council, 1934–37.

In 1937 he was employed at the party's headquarters as propaganda officer, then as secretary of the party's research department from 1941. He soon rose to become secretary of the party in 1944, formally renamed general secretary in 1960. Phillips revolutionised the organisation of the Party and aimed to appeal to a wider set of people and professions, a professional basis for the election victories in 1945 and 1950, that saw fewer trade unionists and more professionals elected to Parliament. He called for recognition of middle class aspiration for wealth, home ownership and leisure opportunities, and warned against excessive emphasis on nationalisation. Nevertheless, Phillips and the party organization he led were blamed by some for the defeat in the 1955 general election: a post-mortem conducted by Harold Wilson labelled the party's organization as a "penny farthing [an antiquated model of bicycle] in a jet age".

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