Peter Griffiths

For the English soccer player, see Peter Griffiths (footballer).

Peter Griffiths
Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North
In office 3 May 1979 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Frank Judd
Succeeded by	Syd Rapson
Member of Parliament for Smethwick
In office 15 October 1964 – 31 March 1966
Preceded by	Patrick Gordon Walker
Succeeded by	Andrew Faulds
Personal details
Born	May 24, 1928 (1928-05-24) United Kingdom
Citizenship	British
Political party	Conservative
Residence	United Kingdom

Peter Harry Steve Griffiths (born 24 May 1928) is a retired English Conservative Party politician. He is best known for controversially gaining the Smethwick seat in the 1964 general election against the national trend.

Life

Griffiths attended West Bromwich Grammar School, Leeds Teacher Training College and London and Birmingham Universities before entering a teaching career. In 1955 he was elected to Smethwick Borough Council.

He served as a councillor until 1963 when he resigned to fight the Smethwick parliamentary seat in the forthcoming general election against the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Gordon Walker. Labour were expected to win the 1964 election, and Gordon Walker was Foreign Secretary designate. Smethwick had been a focus of immigration from the Commonwealth during the years of economic and industrial growth following World War II^{[citation needed]}. It was perhaps for these reasons that race and nationality featured prominently in what became an increasingly ill-tempered local election campaign in 1964.

In criticism of both government and opposition immigration policy^{[citation needed]}, Griffiths ran an anti-immigration campaign, benefiting from the infamous slogan "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour". It is a common misconception that this was Griffith's campaign slogan^{[citation needed]}. In fact, posters with the racist slogan were erected around the area, although it is unclear as to who was responsible for them. His defeat of Gordon Walker shocked the establishment; Harold Wilson stated in the House of Commons that Griffiths should "serve his term here as a parliamentary leper". Griffiths wrote his own account of the election in 1966.

Griffiths was in turn defeated by Labour candidate Andrew Faulds in the 1966 general election and returned to a career in education. He unsuccessfully fought the Portsmouth North constituency in February 1974 general election, but did not stand in the October 1974 election. However, he stood again at the 1979 general election, defeating the sitting Labour MP Frank Judd. He held the seat until the Labour landslide at the 1997 election.

He is married to Jeannette, née Rubery, and they have one son and one daughter.

Bibliography

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages

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• Griffiths, P. (1966). A Question Of Colour. The Smethwick Election Of 1964. London: Leslie Frewin. 
• Pearce, R. (2004) "Walker, Patrick Chrestien Gordon, Baron Gordon-Walker (1907–1980)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed 26 Aug 2007 (subscription required)
• Prem, D. R. (1965). Parliamentary Leper: A History of Colour Prejudice in Britain. Aligarh University Press: Metric Publications. 
• White, Michael (1 June 2000). "Obituary: Andrew Faulds". The Guardian (London). http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,1441,563445,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-11. 
• Who's Who 2007, "Griffiths, Peter Harry Steve", accessed 26 August 2007 (subscription required)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Peter Griffiths
• Jenkins, G. (1999). "Labour and immigration: The Badge of Prejudice". Socialist Review. pp. 234. http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr234/jenkins.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Patrick Gordon Walker	Member of Parliament for Smethwick 1964–1966	Succeeded by Andrew Faulds
Preceded by Frank Judd	Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North 1979–1997	Succeeded by Syd Rapson