Peter Harry Steve Griffiths (born 24 May 1928) is a retired English Conservative Party politician.

[edit] Life

He 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.^[1]

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. It was, perhaps, this historical involvement in issues of Commonwealth immigration that allowed race and nationality to occupy a prominent role in what became an increasingly ill-tempered local campaign by both candidates. Smethwick had been a focus of immigration from the Commonwealth in the economic and industrial growth of the years following World War II and Griffiths ran a campaign critical of the opposition's, and government's, policy. It included the slogan If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour.^[2] The defeat of Gordon Walker shocked the establishment; the racially-tinged campaign caused Harold Wilson to state in the House of Commons that Griffiths should "serve his term here as a parliamentary leper".^[3] Griffiths wrote his own account of the election in 1966.^[4][5]

Griffiths was in turn defeated by Labour candidate Andrew Faulds in the 1966 general election^[6] and returned to a career in education.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[1]

He is married to Jeannette and they have one son and one daughter.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page

• 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. 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)

[edit] External links

• 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.