Emyr Phillips

**Emyr Phillips** (13th May 1909 - 24th July 1976, aged 67) was a Kymrian Labour politician and trade unionist who served as Prime Minister of Kymry between 1965-8. He also served as Leader of Labour party from 1960 to 1968, leader of the opposition from 1961 to 1965, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1954 to 1955 and Minister of Labour and Industry from 1950 to 1954. Phillips served as the MP for Meirionfor from 1946 to his death in 1976.

Born in a poor family in the mining town of Lensea in 1909, Phillips became a trade union representative for the National Mineworkers' Union. He was imprisoned in the 1930's under the National State due to his links with trade unions, being only released after the fall of fascism in 1945. In 1946 he ran for the mining seat of Meirionfor for the Labour party, which he was able to win. In 1950 he became a junior minister following the electoral success of Labour under Dominic Lennox.

Continuing his cultivation of close links with trade unions, he became Minister of Labour and Industry in 1950 where he drafted much of the trade union legalisation of the first Labour government, dramatically increasing the role of trade unions in the economy and public life. In 1954 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, where Phillips successfully established relations with Eastern Bloc and post-colonial states whilst maintaining Kymry's NATO commitments.

In 1955 following the defeat of the Lennox government Lennox resigned from the Labour leadership, with Phillips as the representative of the party's left challenging the more right leaning former Treasury Minister Charles Barber for the labour leadership, narrowly being elected leader. In the 1965 election Phillips was able to lead the Labour party to victory defeating the then unpopular Anti-Revolutionary government of Mervyn Pryce.

The Phillips government was amongst the most active in the Kymrian history, carrying out several far reaching social and economic reforms. Advocating social democratic economic policies and social liberal social policies under Phillips homosexuality was decriminalised, capital punishment repealed, universal university education introduced, Kymrian troops in Vietnam withdrawn, cultivating links with the third world, promoting the Welsh language and more economic planning introduced. Phillips also terminated Kymry's relations with South Africa over its apartheid policy of which he was a vocal opponent of and the groundwork for entry into the European Economic Community created.

The Phillips government however in its last years encountered serious economic difficulties with inflation rising, causing the government to pass new unpopular taxes to maintain government spending. In 1968, a group of right wing Labour MP's dissatisfied with the Phillips government decision to nationalise banks broke from the party to form the Social Credit Party depriving Phillips of his slim majority in parliament. With his party heavily divided the Minister of the Treasury Charles Barber launched a leadership coup against Phillips, ousting him from the position of Labour leader and Prime Minister. Phillips went to the backbenches, where he led for several years the left wing of the Labour party. Phillips, a heavy drinker, continued to represent his Meirionfor constituency until dying of a heart attack in 1976 at the age of 67.

Phillips's legacy as prime minister is mixed. His social reforms whilst divisive at their inception have for the most part endured. His strong opposition to apartheid also has vindicated Phillips by academics, and his third wordlism endeared him to many foreign leaders. However, Phillips was criticised for giving trade unions too much power, being too accepting of the Soviet Union, leading over a divided party and for failing to provide Kymry with good economic management. Phillips continues to be a hero for the left in Kymry and demonised for the right.